BooKs 
And  FolKs 


Edward  N. 


I    UNMcastfTor    I 

I         CAUrOMOA        I 

l«ANDIEOO    J 


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BOOKS    AND    FOLKS 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 

A    VOLUME    OF    FRIENDLY    AND    INFORMAL 

COUNSEL    FOR    THOSE    WHO    SEEK    THE 

BEST    IN    LITERATURE    AND    LIFE 


BY 


EDWARD    N.  TEALL 

FORMERLY     OF     THE    "NEW     YORK    SUN,"    AND    THE     PRINCETON 

UNIVERSITY   PRESS;  HEAD  OF  THE   PRESS  DEPARTMENT 

OF  CHAUTAUQUA  INSTITUTION 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK  AND    LONDON 

Ube  Knicfierbocker  press 
192 1 


Copyright,  1921 

by 
Edward  N.  Teall 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


^% 


To 
J.  G.  T. 


PREFACE 

I  can  tell  you  best  what  this  book  is  by  telling  you 
first  what  it  is  not. 

It  is  not  a  learned  essay.  It  is  not  an  exhortation. 
It  is  neither  profound,  like  a  doctoral  thesis,  nor 
passionate,  like  a  reformer's  appeal. 

If  it  is  what  I  have  tried  to  make  it,  this  book  is 
human  and  helpful. 

It  is  i7i  the  belief  that  at  least  several  persons  will 
be  found  who  like  to  read,  and  like  to  read  about 
reading,  that  this  little  book  has  been  made.  They 
will  please  regard  it  not  as  an  instructive  work,  but 
as  an  essay  at  friendly  suggestion;  and  will  look  into 
it  not  for  conclusive  utterance,  but  for  counsel;  not 
for  the  answer  to  every  inquiry,  but  for  stimulus  to 
the  inquiring  faculty. 

E.  N.  T. 
Chautauqua,  N.  Y. 

March  y,  iq2I. 


THE   CHAPTER-TOPICS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — Memories      of      an      ''Omnivorous 

Reader'':  Pre-College  Years         .  i 

II. — Memories     of     an      "Omnivorous 

Reader'':  College  Years,  and  After  21 

III. — The  Place  of  the  Newspaper  in  Life 

and  ''Letters"  .         ...  41 

IV. — A  Little  More  Than  Newspaper — a 

Little  Less  Than  Book                  .  55 

V. — His  Majesty  the  Book     .         .         .  6g 

VI. — Good  Reading,  Better  Living     .         .  83 

VII. — A  Little  Weeding  in  the  Garden  of 

Books 103 

VIII. —  'Style" 117 

IX. — Book  Reviews         ....  133 

X. — Freedom  in  the  Kingdom  of  Books     .  151 

XL— How  to  Read  .         .  .         .167 

XII. — Children  and  Books  in  the  Home       .  181 

XIII. — Books  and  American  Folks      .  IQ7 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


MEMORIES  OF  AN 
"OMNIVOROUS  READER 
PRE-COLLEGE    YEARS 


Books  and  Folks 


CHAPTER  I 

MEMORIES  OF  AN    "OMNIVOROUS  READER": 
PRE-COLLEGE  YEARS 

At  the  very  beginning  of  this  discourse  its  author 
reaps  the  Reward  of  Merit  that  goes  to  the  maker 
of  a  Preface  with  the  virtues  of  brevity  and  sim- 
plicity. In  our  Preface,  as  you  may  recall,  it  was 
stated  distinctly  and  succinctly,  that  we  are  com- 
mitted to  no  work  of  austere  scholarship,  driven 
by  no  pretentious  purpose,  and  pledged  to  be 
nothing  but  human  and  helpful.  We  are  thus  left 
free  to  begin,  without  apologies,  by  opening  a  Box 
of  Memories ;  memories  that  are  to  the  writer  per- 
sonal and  delightful,  and  may  to  the  reader  afford 
that  gentle  stimulus  which  our  Preface  engages  us 
to  endeavor  to  provide. 

3 


4  Books  and  Folks 

Ipecac,  Rhubarb,  and  Prescotfs  ''Mexico'' 

The  first  recollection  is  one  that  I  borrow  from 
my  good  mother.  She  has  told  the  story  so 
often,  as  mothers  do  tell  these  simple  but  far 
from  valueless  tales  of  their  children's  early  days 
and  doings,  that  I  can  almost  honestly  say  that 
I  recall  the  incident,  though  it  is  doubtful  if  at  the 
time  of  its  happening  I  gave  it  the  slightest  notice. 

When  I  was  a  small  boy  of  seven  or  eight  I  was 
in  bed  with  a  croupy  cold,  and  the  doctor  called. 
Those  were  the  Bad  Old  Days  of  Ipecac  and 
Rhubarb.  As  my  mother  tells  the  story,  the  doctor 
picked  up  a  book  that  lay  on  the  bed.  No  doubt 
it  was  open  flat ;  a  crime  I  have  often  been  guilty 
of  and  still  too  frequently  commit,  in  spite  of  many 
earnest  preachments  against  it.  But  the  doctor 
was  less  interested  in  my  book  manners  than  in  my 
selection  of  a  title.  The  book  was  Prescott's 
Conquest  of  Mexico. 

"Who's  been  reading  this?"  asked  the  Man  of 
Medicine. 

Mother  told  him. 

"What!  Do  you  let  that  child  read  such 
books?" 


Pre-College  Years  5 

"Why,  of  course,  Doctor.  He  reads  anything 
he  likes,  anything  that's  in  the  house.  There  are 
no  books  here  that  can  do  him  harm." 

"But — do  you  suppose  he  can  get  anj^hing  out 
of  a  book  Hke  this?" 

Doctors  are  wise,  but  mothers  are  wiser.  This 
one  said : 

"Well,  Doctor,  do  you  suppose  he'd  read  it  if  he 
didn't  get  something  out  of  it?" 

And  what  could  the  doctor  say?  The  answer 
was  unanswerable.  No  normal  child  reads  through 
three  or  four  hundred  book-pages  that  give  him 
nothing  in  return  for  his  time  and  attention;  not 
even  when  he  is  prisoned  in  bed,  and  time  is 
oppressively  abundant. 

There  must  have  been  many  words  in  that  book 
that  were  not  in  my  vocabulary.  No  doubt  they 
were  skipped,  blithely  and  without  a  qualm. 
Children  begin  with  picture  books.  From  these 
they  graduate  to  reading  that  develops  mental 
pictures.  Prescott  was  drawing  pictures  for  me — 
a  wonderful  pageant  quite  brilliant  and  moving 
enough  to  grip  any  small  boy's  attention.  And  to 
this  day,  when  like  any  other  old  hypocrite  I 


6  Books  and  Folks 

babble  the  conventional  praises  of  Standard  Works 
concerning  which  I  could  utter  no  intelligent  com- 
ment without  first  referring  to  the  printed  page,  to 
this  day  I  cherish  pleasant  memories — ^not,  pre- 
cisely of  that  book,  but  of  the  delight  associated 
with  that  long-ago  reading  of  it.  And  there  is 
something  of  value  in  such  a  memory,  even  though 
you  cannot  capitalize  it. 

Echoes  of  the  Classics 

There  is  an  interesting  comparison  to  be  made 
with  the  Case  for  the  Classics,  Roman  and  Greek, 
as  part  of  the  Higher  Education  for  those  whose 
pursuits  in  later  life  are  to  lead  far  from  college 
halls.  I  myself,  beginning  with  Caesar  and  Xeno- 
phon  in  school,  read  Latin  and  Greek  steadily 
through  foiir  years  at  college.  I  read  my  Latin 
and  Greek  authors  with  genuine  pleasure,  con- 
siderable immediate  benefit  in  mental  exercise, 
and  some  small  credit  to  my  academic  standing. 
But  what  place  have  they  in  my  life  today:  Caesar 
and  Catiline  and  Vergil,  Livy  and  Plautus  and 
Horace,  Lucretius  and  Seneca ;  Xenophon,  Homer, 
Herodotus,  ^Eschylus,  and  Plato? 


Pre-CoUege  Years  7 

I  remember  something  of  the  Conquest  of  Gaul; 
Vercingetorix  particularly.  "Troja  qui  primus  ab 
oris"  echoes  faintly,  and  "ox-eyed  Juno"  and  "the 
wine-dark  sea."  "Enteuthen  exelaunei"  and 
"Dareiou  kai  Parysatidos  gignontai  paides  duo" 
are  verbal  mementos,  not  sublime  but  persistent, 
of  imdergraduate  days.  Once  at  least  every  winter 
I  say  to  myself,  ' '  lam  satis  terris  nivis  atque  dirae 
grandinis  misit  Pater,"  and  snowclad  hills  bring 
back  "nive  candidum  Soracte." 

Lucretius,  De  Rerum  Natura  and  De  Natura 
Deorum  impressed  me,  but  the  impression  has 
faded  to  the  status  of  a  dream  revived  in  a  dream. 
If  I  try  to  recall  Plato,  no  image  emerges  on 
memory's  film  but  that  of  a  fine  old  Greek 
scholar  tortured  by  our  unscholarly  renditions  and 
himself  at  last  expounding  the  text  with  a  reveren- 
tial emotion  that  bore  into  the  consciousness  of  one 
young  student,  at  least,  more  etchingly  than  the 
immortal  Dialogues. 

I  do  not  know  Latin,  but  I  love  Latin.  I  caught, 
and  keep,  a  glimpse  of  the  Roman  Spirit ;  and  an- 
other, less  defined  but  amazingly  persistent,  of  the 
subtler  spirit  of  the  Greek.     The  declensions  and 


8  Books  and  Folks 

the  conjugations — all,  all  are  gone,  the  old  familiar 
tortures.  And  yet,  the  memory  of  those  youth- 
ful studies  is  precious;  and  not  merely  senti- 
mentally so,  for  I  am  sure  that  my  college  Classics 
enriched,  permanently,  my  mental  life.  They 
are  part  of  the  living  tissue  of  my  mind. 

Voluntary  Reading  and  Prescribed  Reading 

The  manner  of  a  book's  introduction  into  one's 
life  is  important.  I  read  Ivanhoe  for  myself,  at 
the  proper  age  of  somewhere  between  thirteen  and 
fifteen.  The  Talisman  I  read  in  Grammar  School, 
as  a  compulsory  exercise,  bit  by  bit,  day  after  day, 
world  without  end,  Amen!  And  Ivanhoe  is  still 
a  joy  (partly,  to  be  sure,  because  I  know  so  well 
just  where  to  skip),  while  the  other  book  is  nothing 
but  a  hateful  memory.  Yet,  unquestionably, 
there  were  boys  and  girls  in  that  public  school  class 
who  enjoyed  that  labored  reading,  and  gained  from 
it  something  they  could  have  got  in  no  other  way. 
The  selection  that  nourishes  one  person  poisons 
another. 

In  my  early  'teens  I  had  another  experience  with 
Prescott.     My  grandfather,  a  fine,  scholarly  old 


Pre -College  Years  9 

gentlemen,  decreed  a  disciplinary  regulation  of  my 
reading,  and  prescribed  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 
With  joyous  anticipation,  based  on  past  experi- 
ence, I  set  out  right  bravely.  But  the  reading 
went  slower  and  slower,  and  at  last  the  dear  old 
gentleman  abandoned,  in  disgust,  his  project 
of  reform.  The  irresistible  force  had  met  an 
immovable  body. 

But  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  not  lost  to  me; 
I  discovered  them  for  myself,  later,  in  Irving.  The 
cussedness  and  contrariness  of  human  nature !  It 
is  not  at  all  unHkely  that  if  my  grandfather  had 
urged  Irving,  I  would  have  rebelled,  and  dis- 
covered Prescott. 

A  Bumble  Bee  in  the  Field  of  Books 

Now  I  begin  to  wish  I  had  kept,  all  my  life,  a 
Record  of  Reading.  The  Diary  of  an  Omnivorous 
Reader  would  be  interesting.  But  the  idea  is  in- 
compatible with  the  omnivorous-reader  tempera- 
ment, which  is  that  of  the  bumble-bee,  not  the 
honey  hoarder  of  the  hive.  My  reading  has  not 
been  systematic,  ordered,  "correct."  I  have  read 
anything  and  everything;   shrinking  only  from 


10  Books  and  Folks 

The  Books  That  Ought  To  Be  Read.  And  the 
course  of  natural  inclination  has  been  confirmed 
by  the  fate  that  has  spread  my  bread  with  the 
Reviewer's  butter. 

Reading  maketh  a  full  man.  Such  reading  as  I 
have  done — ^neither  the  Shining  Example  kind  nor 
yet,  let  it  be  insisted,  the  Horrible  Warning  variety 
— makes  for  fulness  without  proper  assimilation. 
Your  Omnivorous  Reader's  mind  may  be  a  jumble, 
but  it  is  apt  to  be  a  mind  happy  and,  for  its  own 
needs,  rich.  Concern  could  not  be  more  com- 
pletely misdirected  than  it  is  when  exercised  upon 
the  Omnivorous  Reader.  He  is,  from  the  re- 
former's point  of  view,  hopeless.  Why  disturb 
him?  We  may  admire  his  calm  content,  even 
though  we  do  not  choose  to  follow  the  road  that  has 
led  him  to  its  attainment.  He  is  a  phenomenon  of 
the  World  of  Reading,  to  be  recognized,  not  judged. 

He  cherishes  old  delights.  He  holds  immortal 
in  his  memory  bygone  Moments  with  the  Im- 
mortals: caring  not  so  much  what  it  actually  was 
that  some  Old  Master  said  to  him  twenty  years 
ago  as  that  the  association  did  exist  and  gave  him 
persistent  pleasure,  if  not  a  calculable  profit.    He 


Pre-CoUege  Years  ii 

loves  certain  books  because  he  loved  them  once. 
(It  is  pleasanter  to  recall  the  sweethearts  of  our 
madcap  youth  than  to  meet  them,  year-marked,  as 
they  are.)  Instead  of  seeking  out  old  favorites 
to  renew  the  acquaintance  and  revive  its  thrills, 
he  carefully  avoids  them.  He  knows  where  Dis- 
illusionment lurks.  He  will  not  fill  his  mouth 
with  ashes  of  disappointment.  The  fragrance  of 
affectionate  memory  is  too  sweet  to  risk.  He 
quite  frankly  fears  his  fate  too  much,  and  refuses 
to  put  it  to  the  touch  to  win  or  lose  it  all.  He  will 
not  "take  a  dare"  from  Life.  You  may  envy 
him,  but  you  must  not  imitate  him.  If  you  were 
meant  to  be  an  Omnivorous  Reader  you  could  not 
possibly  help  being  one ;  and  if  Nature  did  not  from 
the  first  design  you  for  a  place  in  that  happy  fellow- 
ship, you  cannot  by  any  means  enter  into  its  joys. 
And  so,  by  roundabout  ways,  we  come  to  our 
Recollections.  May  they  add  to  hoped-for  enter- 
tainment some  small  ability  to  edify. 

The  Clock  in  the  Cave 

One  of  my  first  reading-memories,   after  the 
period  of  a  thousand  books  of  which  Grimm's  Fairy 


12  Books  and  Folks 

Tales  may  stand  as  the  symbol,  is  of  Mayne  Reid. 
I  cannot  hear  his  name — one  does  not  hear  it  often 
now! — without  seeing,  as  clearly  as  I  saw  it  then, 
in  the  early  'Nineties  (more  clearly,  I  think)  a 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  a  small  suburban  town.  It  started 
with  a  fine  to-do,  and  suffered  a  swift  Decline  and 
Fall.  A  former  real  estate  office  gave  it  a  place  of 
habitation.  Near  the  door  the  chap  in  charge  had 
his  desk.  He  was  a  student  in  the  German  Theo- 
logical Seminary ;  a  tall,  lean,  dark  young  Teuton, 
a  person  of  serious  Purpose  in  Life. 

There  were  two  or  three  reading-tables  at  the 
front  of  the  bare-floored  room,  whereon  lay  a  few 
forlorn,  quite  unselected  magazines.  Charity  had 
begun  at  home,  and  somebody's  attic  had  been 
cleared  of  a  lot  of  rubbish.  The  magazines  were 
unread. 

A  shelf  or  two  of  books  stood  near  the  tables; 
again  an  uninviting  miscellany  of  cast-offs. 

Beyond,  in  the  dismal  twilight  at  the  back  of  the 
room,  stood  a  horizontal  bar,  a  pair  of  wobbly  old 
parallel  bars,  a  vaulting-horse:  a  very  Rosinante 
of  a  vaulting-horse.  Rings  dangled  from  the  ceil- 
ing, and  a  punching  bag  swung  in  a  corner.     Not 


Pre -College  Years  13 

the  dapper  modern  ball,  briskly  resilient  on  a  re- 
sounding platform,  but  a  formidable  leather  bag 
full  of  sand.  Sledgehammer  blows  might  barely 
budge  its  sullen  weight,  and  yet  there  were  sturdy 
exponents  of  Muscular  Christianity  who  dared 
assail  that  knuckle-bruiser  with  bare  fists. 

I  can  see  it  now,  that  room:  dark  and  cheerless, 
like  a  cave.  The  Student  at  his  desk,  poring  over 
his  musty  theologic  tome.  Outside,  in  the  snowy 
street,  a  gloomy  horse  propped  in  the  shafts  of  a 
grocer's  delivery  wagon.  Pedestrians  hurrying 
past,  and  a  horsecar  rattling  through  Broad  Street. 
"Small  town  stuff" — and  the  old  clock  on  the 
dingy  wall  measuring  off  the  slow  minutes  while  I, 
in  ecstatic  loneliness,  read  Mayne  Reid.  Perhaps 
it  is  the  dim  but  blessed  memory  of  that  clock 
that  I  cherish,  as  much  as  that  of  Mayne  Reid. 
Dim  but  blessed  are  the  best  memories  of  the 
Omnivorous  Reader. 

And  now,  the  Soap-Box  Library 

The  Hercules  Athletic  Club  had  quarters  in  a 
barn,  where  amid  the  riot  of  boxing  and  wrestling 
and  gymnastic  stunts  on  broom  handles  swung  on 


H  Books  and  Folks 

clothes-lines  from  the  rafters,  a  box  of  books  stood 
in  a  corner  near  the  little  pot-bellied,  crack-sided 
laundry  stove  salvaged  from  the  junkman's  yard. 
Michael  Strogoff  was  one  of  them ;  Twenty  Thousand 
Leagues  another.  Alger,  and  Oliver  Optic,  and 
Kingston  were  there;  Frank  Fowler  and  The 
Young  Lieutenant  and  the  Powder  Monkey  who 
came  to  be  an  Admiral. 

From  the  Sunday  School  library  came  in  those 
years  Westward  Ho,  and  Zenobia,  Queen  oj  Palmyra, 
and  an  assortment  of  Edifying  Volumes  for  the 
Young  from  which  no  single  title  emerges.  I  read 
them  all,  even  to  Pansy. 

The  public  school  library  made  available 
another  assortment,  of  which  The  Hoosier 
Schoolmaster  and  The  Boys  oj  'Seventy-six  are 
typical.  Cudjo's  Cave  seems  to  have  been 
there. 

There  were  treasures,  too,  in  the  attic  of  the  old 
home;  of  these  The  Lamplighter  seems  typical.  I 
think  my  Thaddeus  and  Scottish  Chiefs  go  back  to 
this  source.  Like  all  the  other  cores  of  my  early 
book-association,  its  principal  characteristic  was 
miscellaneousness. 


Pre-Coilege  Years  15 

Tom  Brown  and  Parsifal 

Christmas  is,  of  course,  one  of  the  hooks  on 
which  these  memories  hang.  Here,  in  the  first 
seven  of  the  Golden  Nineties,  I  place  The  Crew  of 
the  Water-Wagtail,  by  Ballantyne;  heaven  knows 
(let  us  hope)  his  first  name.  Beric  the  Briton 
stands  out  sharply  in  the  Henty  row.  Here,  I 
suppose,  belong  my  Crusoe  and  Swiss  Family 
Robinson — Tom  Brown — Miss  Alcott — Treasure 
Island  and  others  innumerable.  Ben  Hur  was  in 
this  Hst ;  and  The  Prince  of  India. 

I  enjoyed  Lew  Wallace,  then ;  but  he  is  nothing 
to  me  now  except  a  memory  that  still  brings  a  smile, 
of  a  night  when  I  saw  Ben  Hur  on  the  stage,  and  sat 
so  near  the  front  that  the  famous  Chariot  Race 
became  a  mere  matter  of  mechanism — mechanism 
all  too  obvious.  In  the  same  way  Parsifal  re- 
mains with  me,  in  another  department  of  my 
aesthetic  mis-training;  for  at  the  opera  I  saw  the 
spear  come  down  a  line,  like  a  cashbox  on  a  cable 
in  a  department  store — and  a  miracle  was  spoiled 
in  a  manner  that  would  have  delighted  that 
venerated  scholar  Goldwin  Smith. 

From  1886,  when  my  own  years  numbered  just 


i6  Books  and  Folks 

half  of  their  first  dozen,  the  magazines  for  boys 
and  girls  played  a  prominent  part  in  my 
reading  life.  Lord  Fauntleroy  belongs  to  those 
days;  and  there  was  a  story  which  was,  I  suppose, 
just  the  ordinary  boy-story,  but  one  of  my  vividest 
memories  of  the  printed  page  takes  me  back 
to  it.  Some  fellows  had  gone  skate-sailing, 
and  were  lost  in  the  storm.  The  bugler  of  the 
cadet  corps  stood  on  the  far  end  of  the  school 
dock  and  sent  his  brazen  call  out  against  the  gale. 
There  must  have  been  effective  writing  here,  to 
hold  thru  some  thirty  years  its  power  to  thrill. 

Books  Are  Milestones  by  the  Road  oj  Life 

Book  memories  mark  the  epochs  of  life.  Along 
about  1897  we  had  a  fire.  Through  all  these  years 
it  has  left  me  with  a  senseless  dread  of  possible 
domestic  disaster,  that  drags  me  out  of  bed  in  the 
midst  of  a  winter  night  to  make  sure  of  "those 
condemned  dampers."  And  sharpest  among  the 
memories  of  the  ruin  of  the  flames  and  the 
drenching  water  is  a  vision  of  a  long  shelf -ful  of 
bound  magazines,  two  round  dozen  of  them,  petri- 
fied into  one  solemn  monoHth  by  plaster  that  had 


Pre-College  Years  17 

fallen  on  them  wet  and  had  hardened  into  a  monu- 
ment of  irreparable  ruin.  It  is  in  such  ways,  as 
well  as  in  happier  ways,  that  books  Vveave  them- 
selves into  the  pattern  of  a  life's  memories. 

To  me,  certain  books — Longfellow,  in  three 
great  beautiful  volumes — Sintram  and  Undine, 
for  example,  mean  a  long  Sunday  afternoon  in 
winter,  and  a  window  nook,  back  of  the  curtains, 
with  a  view  out  upon  a  lawn  bare  and  brown  or 
snow-covered,  with  elms  standing  in  frigid  re- 
spectability and  the  neighbor-houses  looming  in 
Sabbath  stillness. 

Natty  Bumppo  and  E.  N.  T. 

Now,  with  the  second  half  of  those  Golden 
Nineties,  we  come  to  High  School  years.  Even 
then  there  were  the  nights  when  I  went  properly 
to  bed  at  nine,  "doused  the  gHm,"  as  I  would 
surely  have  said;  stood  the  maternal  inspection 
and  blessing — then  crept  out  from  under  the 
covers,  blanketed  the  door,  put  the  gas  on,  dis- 
creetly low,  and  read  Cooper.  Leather  stocking  I 
read  over  and  over;  Oak  Openings  and  Satanstoe 
came  conveniently  in  one  volume;  Heidenmauer 


1 8  Books  and  Folks 

and  The  Headsman  as  conveniently  in  another,  to 
be  avoided.  Certain  chapters  opened  automati- 
cally: in  The  Two  Admirals,  always  it  was  the  sea 
battle ;  in  The  Littlepage  Manuscripts,  the  breaking 
up  of  the  ice  on  the  river,  or  Dirk's  daring  rape  of 
the  holiday  dinner,  or  his  doing  to  death  by  the 
redskins. 

Like  the  sharp  flash  of  lightning  in  the  chaos  of 
storm  stands  out  in  Mohicans  the  scene  in  the  cave 
at  Glens  Falls,  when  that  horrid  shriek  resounds-, 
more  appalling  than  all  the  whoops  of  the  besieg- 
ing mingoes.  Heavens!  if  Hawkeye  trembles, 
there  is  more  abroad  than  man's  mind  can  fathom ! 
Even  Duncan's  final  recognition  of  the  source  of 
that  soul-shaking  cry  cannot  act  as  anti-climax: 
Natty  Bumppo  has  been — well,  just  out-and-out 
scared,  and  "that  means  something"  to  the  boy 
reader. 

Is  it  silly  to  class  this  passage  with  the  spon- 
taneous combustion  of  a  human  body  in  one  of  the 
Dickens  stories?  There  is  an  element  of  almost 
grotesque  exaggeration  in  each.  But  these  two 
incidents  surpass,  in  one  reader's  mind,  every  hor- 
rifying incident  recorded  in  literature  veracious 


Pre-CoUege  Years  19 

or  imaginative;  even,  I  think,  including  those 
invented  by  Poe.  Need  it  be  stated  with 
explicit  solemnity,  that  these  remarks  are  not 
critical,  but  indiscreetly  honest  ? 

These  are  but  the  first  few  random  recollections 
of  a  boy's  reading  that  come  up  in  the  man's  mind. 
Perhaps  they  are  tedious  as  a  catalogue  of  ships; 
but  to  me  they  seem  significant,  for  they  sketch 
the  impressions  left  by  youthful  reading. 

Books  and  Baseball  and  Ferryboats 

If  I  had  been  a  young  bookworm;  if  I  had  read, 
precociously,  under  forced  draught ;  if  I  had  sacri- 
ficed for  books  the  normal  activities  of  boyhood, 
these  recollections  might  be  a  source  of  shame 
rather  than  pleasure.  But  I  was  One  of  the  Gang : 
I  rattled  windows  on  Hallowe'en,  ran  to  fires, 
played  hookey  to  spend  the  morning  riding  back 
and  forth  over  the  North  River  on  the  first  Double 
Decker,  on  the  Pennsylvania  Ferry,  and  the  after- 
noon seeing  "The  Still  Alarm."  I  swam  in 
the  canal  in  summer  and  skated  on  it  in  winter, 
and  ran  races  and  boxed  and  wrestled,  and  played 
on  the  school  teams.     Where  did  the  time  all  come 


20  Books  and  Folks 

from  ?  How  did  I  do  it  on  twenty-four  hours  a  day  ? 
Perhaps  there  was  a  trick,  Hke  the  chap  who 
turned  in  a  pay-card  of  twenty-six  hours,  and 
explained  that  his  wife  worked  with  him  a  while. 

This  was  certainly  not  an  extraordinary  child- 
hood. The  books  named  are  not  a  tenth  of  those 
that  blessed  it.  You  yourself  have  similar  memo- 
ries. Your  boy  and  girl  are  even  now  storing 
them  up  for  1940. 

It  is  all  a  reflection  of  the  Meaning  of  Books  in 
Life. 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


MEMORIES  OF  AN 
"OMNIVOROUS  READER": 
COLLEGE   YEARS,  AND 
AFTER 


31 


CHAPTER  II 

MEMORIES  OF  AN    "OMNIVOROUS   READER": 
COLLEGE  YEARS,   AND  AFTER 

My  reading  in  High  School  years  took  its  tone 
from  books  of  which  Sartor  Resartus  was  repre- 
sentative. In  the  summer  between  School  and 
College  there  came  a  reading  experience  unUke 
anything  I  have  had  before  or  since:  three 
nights  a  week  I  read  aloud  to  an  old  gentleman 
whose  eyesight  had  failed.  All  that  long  summer 
I  spent  those  three  evenings  a  week  chained  to  a 
Library  of  Best  Literature,  and  if  there  is  any- 
thing in  Mental  Discipline,  I  ought  to  have  got 
enough  of  it  to  last  a  lifetime!  I  could  have 
written  the  Odyssey  of  a  Bookworm. 

Elder  folk,  who  if  they  knew  half  as  much  as 
they  think  they  know  would  know  twice  as  much  as 
younger  folk  will  ever  credit  them  with  knowing, 
would  have  oozed  amiable  approval,  and  might 

23 


24  Books  and  Folks 

even  have  tried  to  convince  the  young  reader  that 
he  ought  to  have  been  wilHng  to  pay  three  dollars 
a  week  for  the  privilege,  instead  of  receiving  that 
exalted  sum  for  his  services.  The  tasks  of  youth 
are  long,  long  tasks,  and  as  the  youth  that  was  I 
read  ploddingly  on — fifty  pages  tonight,  and  there 
will  remain  only  12,859  to  be  bored  through — he 
acquired  an  imperishable  detestation  of  reading- 
by-schedule.  Now  that  he  is  a  man,  much  older 
and  a  little  wiser,  he  retains  that  antipathy  to  this 
extent:  that,  acknowledging  that  certain  good  and 
desirable  results  may  be  attained  in  this  way,  he 
still  prefers  to  obtain  them  in  some  other  way,  if 
it  can  be  managed.  If  he  wanted  to  induce  a 
child  to  read  the  Bible,  he  would  certainly  not  use 
the  old-fashioned  method  of  offering  a  prize  for 
reading  The  Book  from  cover  to  cover.  He  would 
rather  use  all  his  ingenuity  to  get  a  single  selected 
chapter  read  voluntarily  and  for  its  own  sake  than 
to  owe  a  whole  Testament  to  the  Hope  of  Reward 
or  the  Fear  of  Punishment. 

For  the  type  of  mind  that  reads  as  naturally  as 
the  lungs  breathe,  the  Omnivorous  Reader  type, 
dictation  and  compulsion  are  fruitless  of  advan- 


College  Years,  and  After        25 

tage.  Even  with  minds  more  amenable  to  dis- 
cipline, persuasion  carries  further  then  peremptory- 
direction,  counsel  is  more  effective  than  coercion. 
Wise  parents  know  this,  and  foolish  parents  are 
not  likely  to  learn  it. 

Nineteen  Two  and  Nineteen  Twenty 

It  was  a  good  thing  for  me,  that  summer's  read- 
ing, for  at  college  there  was  little  discipHnary 
influence.  Advanced  standing  in  Latin  and 
English  made  amends  for  some  slight  deficiency 
in  Mathematics.  Omnivorous  reading  helped  me 
score  high  in  non-disciplinary  "subjects,"  and  I 
went  through  with  a  satisfactory  average.  The 
system  was  comfortable.  It  might  be  defended  on 
the  ground  that  it  permitted  the  student  to  develop 
his  natural  bent.  Nowadays  the  tendency  may  be 
— I  hope  it  is — the  other  way :  making  the  student 
earn,  by  application  to  studies  in  which  he  is  not 
naturally  proficient,  the  privilege  of  enjoying  those 
to  which  he  is  temperamentally  inclined. 

Twenty  years  ago  life  was  less  complex,  and  the 
preparation  for  it  was  simpler.  Up  to  the  chang- 
ing of  the  centuries,  the  nation  had  not  begun  its 


26  Books  and  Folks 

headlong  plunge  into  ways  of  specialized  material- 
ism. Professors  were  not  yearning  to  be  union- 
ized and  levelled  down.  Our  educators  tried  to 
bring  some  fresh  thoughts  forth  from  our  heads, 
as  well  as  to  hammer  the  old  ones  into  them. 
Whether  there  was  as  much  diagnosis  I  cannot 
say ;  but  surely  there  was  less  prescription. 

(When  the  middle-aged  graduate  talks  about 
"those  good  old  days,"  he  doesn't  mean  to  stress 
the  "good,"  with  contrast  unfavorable  to  the 
present.  It  is,  rather,  the  those-ness  of  his  college 
days  that  he  has  in  mind.  He  doesn't  underesti- 
mate the  dearness  of  these  days  to  the  new  genera- 
tion ;  he  more  or  less  openly  envies  the  youngsters 
their  present- tenseness.  But  those  days  were 
his  days !) 

Great  changes  have  con;ie  with  the  reversal  of 
the  digits,  turning  1902  into  1920.  Probably  more 
books  are  read  by  undergraduates  nowadays ;  cer- 
tainly, there  are  many  more  for  them  to  read.  But 
I  wonder  if  there  are  so  many  Reading  Men;  I 
wonder  if  there  are  so  many  who  read  for  read- 
ing's sake.  Also  I  wonder  if  it  is  not  characteristic 
of  these  times  to  look  so  hard  for  the  journey's 


College  Years,  and  After        27 

end  that  the  journey  itself  is  shorn  of  some  of  its 
proper  delights.  Does  the  Preceptorial  System 
train  men  to  read  both  broadly  and  deeply;  and 
does  it  leave  to  them  some  small  share  of  the 
legitimate  joys  of  free-lance,  reading?  Or,  by 
separating  the  individual  from  the  mass,  does 
it  only  make  possible  a  tighter  clamping  of  the 
gyves  of  academic  discipline?  Or  is  the  Sys- 
tem less  important  than  the  Men  who  work 
it  out,  and  does  it  all  depend  upon  the  happy 
mating  of  minds,  with  chance  the  arbiter  of 
destinies? 

With  books  as  with  men  there  is  need  to  choose 
carefully  otir  associations.  You  see  men  of  coarse 
minds,  essentially  unrefined  but  masquerading 
under  a  veneer  of  culture,  gaining  every  day  suc- 
cesses denied  to  men  of  finer  fiber  but  rougher 
exterior.  And  you  see  books  full  of  vulgar  thought 
but  dressed  in  handsome  words  esteemed  above 
others  of  soimd  substance  less  alluringly  clothed. 
The  reader  who  wants  the  best  must  con- 
sciously discriminate.  What  an  opportunity  is 
here  for  the  Professor  of  English,  and  for  the 
Librarian ! 


28  Books  and  Folks 

The  Teacher's  Opportunity 

The  Assistant  Professor  who  analyzes  and  dis- 
sects authors  and  books,  and  then  cannot  re-as- 
semble poor  old  Humpty-Dumpty  or  unscramble 
the  eggs,  may  be  preparing  a  student  or  two  for 
the  routine  of  school  teaching,  but  he  is  not  con- 
tributing to  any  Intellectual  Awakening.  In 
the  clouds  of  dust  raised  by  his  delving  in  the 
mouldy  memorials  of  Periods,  young  minds  are 
stifled.  Fortunate  is  the  student  who  falls  under 
the  spell  of  a  True  Teacher :  one  who  can  make  a 
literary  landscape  leap  into  life  at  the  flash  of  a 
lightning  phrase,  or  stand  out  in  strong  relief  under 
the  radiant  glow  of  calmly  trenchant  thought. 
Such  a  Teacher  of  Letters  teaches  Life.  He  not 
only  directs  the  critical  faculty  but  challenges 
the  creative  impulse.  If  one  or  two  of  his 
students  go  on  to  a  Philosophical  Doctorate  in 
Letters  he  will  be  pleased,  for  his  workmanship  is 
thus  attested,  academically;  but  his  best  reward 
is  in  the  consciousness  of  his  agency  in  the 
dissemination  of  light. 

My  own  first  experience  of  true  Teaching  befell 
early  in  my  study  of  Latin.     The  Beginners'  Class 


College  Years,  and  After        29 

had  been  assigned  to  a  young  woman  just  out  of 
college,  and  a  dreary  class  it  was.  Beginners' 
classes  ought  to  have  the  best  of  teaching — instead 
of  which  they  are  all  too  often  made  a  Model 
School  for  beginning  teachers.  I  attended  classes, 
perforce,  in  body,  but  my  spirit  roamed  afar.  It 
was  bad  manners  and  an  uncondonable  offence 
against  discipline  thus  to  hold  aloof;  and  yet, 
how  can  you  reprehend  an  alert-minded  youngster 
for  refusing  to  attend  to  dull,  mechanical  teaching  ? 
Finally,  our  old-fashioned  Principal  took  the  re- 
fractory pupil  in  hand.  At  the  time  I  could  see 
only  his  wrath,  quite  unrighteous,  as  it  seemed  to 
me.  Now,  looking  back,  I  am  sure  he  had 
sympathy.  He  took  me  out  of  that  class,  and 
taught  me,  himself,  after  school.  While  the  others 
were  drilling  on  the  Beginners'  Book,  we  took  up 
the  text,  and  read — truly  read — C.  Julius  Caesar, 
De  Bello  Gallico. 

This  teacher  had  a  great  initial  advantage  over 
the  other.  He  was  a  Civil  War  veteran ;  carried  a 
bullet  in  his  neck  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He  be- 
gan by  telling  this  new  Rebel  he  had  set  out  to 
subdue  the  story  of  his  own  study  of  Latin :  how, 


30  Books  and  Folks 

self-prepared — for  all  his  life  had  been  a  battle 
against  great  odds — he  had  just  got  into  a  small 
New  England  college  through  which  he  was  de- 
termined to  work  his  way,  when  the  war  broke 
out,  and  he  enlisted,  in  the  Cavalry.  He  had  been 
a  plainsman  of  the  West.  He  told  how  he  carried 
a  book  or  two  with  him  in  his  campaigns,  and  how 
once,  riding  on  the  trail  of  a  retreating  enemy,  he 
had  come  upon  a  recent  bivouac,  where  the  camp- 
fires  still  smouldered — and  there,  in  a  Rebel's  rude 
night  shelter,  he  had  picked  up  a  Cassar,  aban- 
doned in  the  hasty  evacuation.  Now  Caesar 
began  to  seem,  to  the  young  student,  a  human 
reality  worth  some  endeavor  toward  close  ac- 
quaintance! Day  after  day  we  read;  and  Caesar's 
battles  were  fought  over,  Roman  tactics  and 
strategy  discussed — even  the  long  speeches,  taken 
at  speed,  fell  neatly  enough  into  the  story.  And 
thus — so  immoral  a  world  is  this! — out  of  lawless 
rebellion  came  lasting  good  to  the  rebel.  In  de- 
feat he  triumphed.  He  had  learned,  in  his  own 
small  way,  to  love  Learning! 

That  is  what  a  Teacher  can  do  for  his  students : 
stimulate,  direct,  and  inspire.     And  that  is  what  a 


College  Years,  and  After        31 

reader  can  do  for  himself!  He  need  not  be  filled 
with  deadening  doubts  and  distrusts  of  his  own 
ability.  The  mere  desire  to  learn  is  powerful, 
and  a  source  of  light  and  leading. 

The  Librarian' s  Opportunity 

The  Librarian's  opportunity  was  coupled,  a  few 
paragraphs  back,  with  the  Teacher's.  The  Libra- 
rian's opportunity  is,  to  be  a  Teacher.  The 
mechanical  function  of  handing  out  books,  record- 
ing the  withdrawal  and  return  of  volumes,  and  col- 
lecting fines  from  deHnquent  borrowers — this  is 
elementary  and  necessary ;  beyond  this  unattractive 
territory  of  job-duty  lie  the  smiling  fields  of 
Opportunity. 

Folk  who  do  not  seek  collegiate  parchments  and 
degrees  have  the  public  libraries,  where  they  may 
borrow  tools  with  which  to  dig  away  at  the  moun- 
tain-mass of  cumbering  ignorance,  or,  reversing 
the  figure,  pick  at  the  Mound  Builder's  accumu- 
lated masses  of  knowledge-material.  Unaided, 
the  seeker  after  self -improvement  may  uncover 
some  small  nuggets  to  go  into  the  mill  of  his 
mind,  there  to  be  assimilated,  absorbed  into  his 


32  Books  and  Folks 

own  substance  and  used  as  new  muscle  to  an 
extent  dictated  and  measured  by  his  inherent 
powers,  his  persistence,  imagination — and  his  for- 
tune, good  or  bad.  How  much  waste  of  labor — 
opening  of  false  veins,  handling  of  worthless 
mineral — may  he  be  saved  from  by  a  friendly, 
helpful  word  from  the  Librarian,  who  knows  the 
tools  and  their  use  and  presumably,  the  fniitful 
places  wherein  he  may  advantageously  invest  his 
toil. 

Honey  of  Hymettus  and  Cracker s-and- Cheese 

But  we  have  left  our  college  student  in  those 
pleasant  surroundings  of  ivied  halls  and  elm- 
shaded  campus,  with  four  good  years  ahead  of  him 
in  which  to  try  if  he  had  a  mind  at  all  and,  if  one 
he  had,  to  think  out  uses  to  which  later  it  might 
be  put  for  his  good  and,  perhaps,  the  world's. 
Always  a  reader,  it  was  certain  enough  that  he 
would  continue  reading,  and  not  turn  scientist 
or  mathematician;  and  that  Literature,  not 
Language,  would  be  his  metier. 

He  joined  a  Literary  Society;  and  there,  oddly 
enough,  found  that  compositions  were  called  for. 


College  Years,  and  After        33 

and  competition  in  debates,  and  extempore  speak- 
ing. Drill  and  test,  drill  and  test !  The  Faculty 
outdone  at  its  own  game ;  their  classroom  victims 
copying  their  ways  to  darken  the  blessed  hours 
of  freedom.  The  freshman  sickened  of  it.  He 
stayed  away  from  meetings,  and  crawled  into  a 
comer  of  the  Ubrary — seldom  invaded  save  by 
earnest  seekers  for  deadly  Data  and  ready  Refer- 
ences— and  read,  and  read,  and  read.  When  dues 
over-due  and  fines  unpaid  reached  a  sum  beyond 
possibility  of  payment  by  him,  he  dropped  out; 
and  felt  no  pang  of  parting's  sweet  sorrow.  He 
moved  over  to  the  College  Library. 

Oh,  little  Library ! — ^for  then  there  was  in  use  no 
hugely  labyrinthine  University  Library,  with 
acres  of  stacks  and  cabinets  of  cards  and  Desks 
of  Call,  but  only  the  little  old  College  Library  in 
its  cozy  octagonal  home,  all  alcoves  and  cathe- 
drally  light  sifted  through  tinted  panes;  the  new 
building  was  just  opening,  but  this  was  The  Library 
— oh,  Uttle  Home  of  My  Heart,  where  were  kept 
the  older  volumes,  the  books  tried  and  true,  the 
Standard  Books  and  Classics,  the  tomes  full  of 
faith  and  philosophy  and  distilled  experience :  from 


34  Books  and  Folks 

your  peaceful  precincts  flowed  for  me  the  stream 
bom  at  the  Pierian  fount,  you  mothered  my  mind, 
you  gave  me  what  I  got  of  education !  To  me  you 
stand,  and  shall  forever  stand,  the  symbol  of  true 
learning  and  kindly  culture  and  all  that  is  good 
and  precious  in  Reading.  You  did  not  dictate, 
you  did  not  give  marks  for  excellence  and  "con- 
ditions" for  efficiency;  you  opened  your  treasure- 
chests,  and  ran  the  risk  of  plundering  by  unworthy 
hands  rather  than  chance  withholding  the  contents 
of  your  treasures  from  deserving  questors. 

By  contrast,  there  was  the  elective  course  in 
Poets  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  given  by 
a  famous  literary  gentleman,  essayist  and 
poet  of  renown.  Naturally,  I  took  that  course! 
Inevitably,  it  led  to  disappointment.  The  dis- 
tinguished lecturer  began  by  exposing  his 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  a  course  in  such  a  sub- 
ject might  lead  to  either  of  two  kinds  of  examina- 
tion :  one  by  facts  and  dates,  the  other  by  inviting 
independent  expression.  He  admired  the  latter — 
but  used  the  former.  So  many  papers  to  correct 
and  grade !  And  so  the  conscientious  drudge  with 
the  mind  and  the  perseverance  of  the  blacksmith 


College  Years,  and  After        35 

could  look  for  a  First  Group ;  and  the  poet-to-be, 
if  one  there  were  among  us,  could  expect  a  Fifth. 
All  we  Hke  sheep  are  gone  astray!  And  one 
student  with  a  thirst  for  the  Honey  of  Hymettus 
spewed  out  the  brackish  draught  offered  in  its 
place — hung  a  blanket  over  the  transom  of  his 
room  at  the  very  top  of  a  homely  old  dormitory, 
and  feasted  three  days  at  a  time  on  crackers  and 
cheese  and  the  music  of  Tennyson. 

Not  all  the  courses  came  to  so  inglorious  an 
exit.  There  was  the  reading  of  Dante,  and  Seneca 
and  Plato — and  Quintus  Flaccus,  with  the  most 
jovial  of  Horatians.  The  literature  of  Spain  was 
aimed  at,  too ;  but  the  barricade  of  Irregular  Verbs 
shut  one  lazy  pilgrim  out  of  that  delightful  land. 
But,  you  see,  that  college  course  became  a  mixture 
of  cut  classes  and  free  reading. 

The  Profit  oj  Pleasure 

I  wonder  what  it  was  I  read  those  four  golden 
years?  I  skimmed  the  new  fiction,  I  know;  and 
dwelt  long  with  the  older  novels.  I  got  my 
Thackeray  then.  I  took  in  whole  volumes  of  the 
British  Poets — the  old  fellows,  the  Elizabethan 


36  Books  and  Folks 

Minors — while  the  entire  requirement  of  the  class- 
room was  Professor  Somebody-or-Other's  History 
of  English  Literature :  more  facts,  and  dates,  and 
critical  formula. 

I  read  Sterne;  and  Restoration  Comedy;  and 
Boccaccio  and  Rabelais,  too.  And  everything  I 
could  find  about  Princeton  history.  And  Reveries 
of  a  Bachelor!  And  Duruy,  and  the  Anglo-Saxons, 
and  Ueberweg,  and  Jespersen,  and  Hamilton 
Wright  Mabie,  and  Suetonius,  and  Goethe  and 
Schiller  and  Heine,  and  more  poets:  as  complete 
a  hodge-podge  as  could  be  imagined  without  in- 
cluding Political  Economy  and  that  part  of 
Kipling  which  I  detest  as  much  as  I  love  the  other 
part. 

What  a  contrast  there  was  between  that  read- 
ing, and  the  reading  of  my  friend  of  school  days 
who  paid  me  a  weekly  pittance  to  read  to  him  piti- 
lessly through  an  Encyclopaedia  of  Best  Literature ! 
Let  no  one  think  I  claim  the  best  of  it ;  I  make  no 
odious  comparison — but  the  contrast  cannot  be 
ignored.  My  friend  read  as  he  wished ;  if  you  will, 
he  followed  the  dictate  of  his  nature.  And  I  did 
the  same,  with  a  very  different  desire  sprung  from 


College  Years,  and  After        37 

a  very  different  nature.  Mine  was  no  better 
than  his;  but  neither  was  his  better  than 
mine.     Nor  is  either  better,  or  worse,  than  yours. 

Since,  in  that  annus  memorabilis,  nineteen 
years  ago,  I  took  my  baccalaureate  sheepskin  and 
fared  forth  into  the  Wide,  Wide  World ;  and  since,  fif- 
teen years  ago,  I  cashed  in  on  my  assiduous  reading 
of  the  Knickerbockers  by  spinning  them  into  the 
thesis  that  made  me  A.  M.,  I  have  read  hundreds 
of  books  from  the  Second  Hand  Shops,  and  thou- 
sands of  New  Books  sent  for  review;  and  still  I 
read,  as  I  have  always  read,  for  pleasure  more  than 
for  profit ;  for  the  lasting  profit,  rather,  that  springs 
from  honest  pleasure.  And  still,  as  ever — but 
more  than  ever — I  find  in  my  own  reading,  and 
what  it  has  given  me,  satisfactory  justification  for 
my  inalienable  belief  that  a  man's  reading  is  as 
much  his  own  as  his  soul  or  his  hat — that  it  is  a 
mistake  to  let  others  dictate  it,  and  a  sad  thing  to 
be  ruled  by  conscience  and  a  stern  sense  of  duty 
when  setting  forth  upon  what  should  be  a  pleasant 
pilgrimage  through  the  Wonder- World  of  Books. 

Don't  be  bullied  and  browbeaten  by  critics. 
Don't  let  highbrows  bluff  you.     Don't  accept  a 


38  Books  and  Folks 

Standard  of  Taste  till  you  have  tested  it.  Don't 
be  ashamed  to  like  what  you  like.  Don't  pre- 
tend to  like  what  you  don't  like.  Don't  be  a 
slave,  don't  be  a  hypocrite. 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


THE  PLACE  OF  THE 
NEWSPAPER  IN  LIFE 
AND  "LETTERS" 


99 


CHAPTER  III 

the   place  of  the  newspaper  in   life  and 
"letters" 

The  years  I  spent  in  college  were  those  of  the 
war  with  Spain.  It  might  be  supposed  that  the 
daily  newspapers  would  have  been  a  prominent 
part  of  the  reading  of  a  college  student  of  those 
days,  but  there  was  one  undergraduate  whose  life 
was  a  placid  pool  unruffled  by  any  draught  from 
the  international  Cave  of  the  Winds. 

To  the  last  day  of  his  life,  my  grandfather 
read  the  Tribune;  though  it  is  doubtful  if  he 
ever  forgave  it  for  letting  Greeley  die,  or  for 
printing  pictures.  My  father  read  the  Sun.  I, 
as  a  schoolboy,  read  no  newspaper,  for  the  elders 
carried  their  papers  off  in  the  morning,  to  be  read 
on  the  train,  and  in  the  evening  there  were  other 
things  for  the  Boy  of  the  House  to  do.     There  was 

41 


42  Books  and  Folks 

no  newspaper  talk,  no  "current  events  element" 
in  our  family  routine.  The  Men  of  the  House 
were  bookmen.  They  were  members  of  the  staff 
of  one  of  the  great  dictionaries.  Their  conver- 
sation together  was  on  the  topics  of  grammar  or 
diction  or  punctuation.  Each  was  certain  of  the 
final  correctness  of  his  own  ideas  on  English 
As  She  Should  Be  Spoke  or  Wrote,  and  each 
at  times  was  moved  to  dispute  the  other's 
propositions.  They  reached  the  peak  of  joy 
when,  standing  on  common  ground,  they  jointly 
assailed  some  ridiculus  mus  of  a  grammarian 
who  chose  to  stand  on  other  ground.  There  was 
no  family  discussion  of  the  daily  news;  and  later, 
at  college,  nothing  turned  my  attention  in  that 
direction.  What,  then,  more  natural  than  that 
ironic  fate  should  steer  my  steps,  after  grad- 
uation and  an  interval  of  school  teaching, 
toward  a  newspaper  office?  From  August  of 
1903  to  February  of  191 7  I  earned  my  living 
in  the  editorial  rooms  of  a  New  York  morning 
newspaper.  Naturally,  my  ideas  about  news- 
paper reading  have  changed  since  those  college 
years. 


The  Place  of  the  Newspaper     43 

A  World  of  Steel  and  Paper 

The  modern  newspaper  is  as  admirable  and 
useful  a  part  of  man's  handiwork  as  trees  are 
of  God's;  and  the  subject  of  as  little  critical 
consideration.  It  is  an  established  part  of  the 
Scheme  of  Things,  and  we  analyze  it  about  as 
much  as  we  do  the  air  we  breathe.  Isn't  it  true 
that  the  morning  paper  and  the  weather  seem  to 
be  dull  or  brilliant  together? 

Man's  world  is  made  of  steel  and  paper.  It 
would  not  be  sensible  to  say  that  if  there  were  no 
newspapers  there  would  be  no  wars  fought  with 
the  steel;  perhaps  if  newspapers  did  not  exist 
the  chancelleries  could  the  more  comfortably 
organize  international  conflicts.  But  the  power 
of  Public  Opinion  to  prevent  resort  to  "the  red 
arbitrament  of  war"  is  a  subject  of  hopeful  specu- 
lation, and  without  newspapers  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult for  Public  Opinion  to  take  form.  Could 
there,  indeed,  be  even  a  PubUc?  If  the  supply 
of  paper  came  to  an  end,  would  not  commerce 
revert  to  barter  and  organized  industry  to 
primitive,  unspecialized  labor  ?  Intergovernmental 
commimication   would   return   to   the   hands   of 


44  Books  and  Folks 

couriers  on  horseback,  for  it  is  impossible  to 
imagine  a  world  without  newspapers  as  having 
automobiles  and  aeroplanes,  telephone  and 
telegraph.  The  newspaper  is  so  inextricably- 
interwoven  with  the  other  materials  of  our  civil- 
ization's fabric  that  imagining  what  life  would  be 
like  without  it  can  serve  no  end  except  to  clarify 
our  perception  of  what  its  place  actually  is. 

Any  one  of  our  "great"  newspapers  prints 
in  a  year  enough  words  to  fill  a  thousand  three- 
hundred-page  books.  And  almost  everybody, 
in  the  cities  at  least,  sees  an  evening  paper,  as 
well! 

Newspaper  Reading  is  a  Science 

How  do  you  read  your  newspaper?  It  is  not 
made  with  an  expectation  that  all  readers  will 
be  interested  by  every  item.  There  is  first  the 
news,  local,  national,  and  foreign;  then  the  ship- 
ping and  market  news;  the  news  of  sports,  of 
music,  drama,  and  books;  the  Woman's  Page, 
with  the  important  news  of  fashions;  the  adver- 
tisements, carrying  the  news  from  the  shops; 
and    the    editorial    review    of    the    news.     The 


The  Place  of  the  Newspaper     45 

courts,  the  churches,  and  politics  must  all  be 
"covered."  Your  major  interests  may  be  minor 
to  me,  and  my  valuation  may  reverse  someone 
else's;  but  we  both  want  to  be  informed  in  a 
general  way,  and  so  each  of  us  gladly  tolerates 
the  presence  of  the  other's  specialty.  And  there 
is  so  much  in  any  newspaper  for  every  reasonable 
reader  that  no  one  ever  thinks  of  begrudging  the 
inclusion  of  departments  whose  pages  he  never 
scans  at  all. 

The  first  step  in  the  science  of  newspaper 
reading  is  that  of  omission,  recognizing  without 
loss  of  time  the  things  that  are  dispensable. 
Every  reader  his  own  editor!  But  too  free-hand 
employment  of  this  editorial  prerogative  of  the 
reader  may  be  costly.  Many  business  men  skim 
the  news,  skip  the  editorial  page,  and  concen- 
trate on  the  market  reports.  Many  Serious 
Persons  ignore  the  sports  page.  Some  readers 
scan  the  editorial  articles  so  closely  that  they 
haven't  time  to  compare  these  magisterial  utter- 
ances, critically,  with  the  news  columns.  The 
science  of  newspaper  reading  has  nicer  adjustments 
than  these  page-omitters  perceive.     It  calls  for 


46  Books  and  Folks 

swift  valuation,  delicate  discrimination,  and  a 
developed  instinct  for  the  Right  Road. 

The  making  of  your  daily  newspaper  is  a  tri- 
umph of  studied  skill  and  detailed  organization. 
The  newspaper  of  today  compares  with  that  of  a 
few  decades  ago  about  as  a  great  department 
store  compares  with  the  small  shop.  Back  of  the 
confusion  and  the  chaos  of  the  newspaper  plant 
are  Plan  and  Order,  and  things  are  moving 
toward  an  end  carefully  designed.  System  rules 
in  merchandising  of  many  "lines"  under  one 
roof;  and  system  is  indispensable  in  the  reporting 
of  the  world's  news.  The  two  systems,  if  you 
do  not  go  too  far  with  the  comparison,  are  alike 
in  their  elasticity  and  adjustability;  their  founda- 
tion on  fixed  principles,  with  a  routine  adapted 
to  meet  sudden  exigencies  and  special  require- 
ments. Every  item  in  the  newspaper,  as  in 
the  store,  has  to  be  valued  in  correct  proportion 
to  every  other ;  and  special  display  calls  for  artistic 
discrimination. 

As  the  merchandise  pours  into  the  depart- 
ment store,  the  news  pours  into  the  newspaper 
office.     From  far  corners  of  the  world  correspond- 


The  Place  of  the  Newspaper     47 

ents  send  their  messages  or  letters.  From  every 
State  dispatches  come.  Events  foreseeable  are 
taken  care  of  by  special  assignment,  but  always 
there  is  the  element  of  the  unexpected  to  be  met ; 
in  fact,  to  be  expected.  Big  stories  break  without 
a  moment's  notice;  perhaps  after  the  make-up 
of  the  paper  has  been  all  planned.  Then  the 
master  mind  must  decide  what  shall  go  out  to 
make  place  for  the  new  matter,  and  how  the  re- 
maining matter  shall  be  arranged.  The  whole 
plant  thrills  and  throbs  with  the  tensest  sort 
of  energy.  Orders  that  will  make  or  mar  the 
issue  are  given  and  executed  with  flashing  speed. 
There  is  competition  of  the  keenest;  the  paper 
must  have  the  best,  and  get  it  out  first.  In  the 
endeavor  men  act  like  the  violently  insane;  but 
every  move  has  its  purpose,  all  activities  are 
coordinated,  and  suddenly  out  of  the  confusion 
comes  the  right  result,  true  to  pattern  and  pro- 
ducing the  intended  effect.  Such  work  deserves 
the  complement  (and  compliment)  of  appreciation. 
Random  reading  of  a  newspaper  is  almost  more 
deplorable  than  random  reading  of  books  because 
we  read  newspapers  so  much  more  than  we  read 


48  Books  and  Folks 

books.  And  careful,  useful  reading  can  so  easily 
be  made  a  habit  that  no  one  ought  to  deprive 
himself  of  the  advantage  it  gives. 

First,  Select  Your  Paper;  Then,  Keep  Your  Eyes  Open! 

What  newspaper  do  you  read?  And  why  that 
one,  rather  than  another?  Did  you  inherit  the 
selection,  as  perhaps  you  inherited  your  church 
denomination,  your  party  affiliation  in  politics, 
your  college  or  your  business?  Did  you  merely 
happen  upon  a  certain  one,  or  did  you  make  a 
reasoned  selection?  In  one  of  the  recent  novels 
a  girl  rejects  a  good  car  at  a  low  price,  in  favor  of 
an  expensive  poor  one,  because  the  first  was  offered 
by  a  salesman  who  was  too  fat,  and  the  other  by 
a  chap  with  eyes  that  won  the  young  lady's  fav- 
or. No  doubt  a  good  many  newspaper-reader 
allegiances  have  been  determined  in  a  way  just 
about  as  sensible  as  that. 

Suppose  someone  in  whose  discerning  judgment 
you  have  great  faith  were  to  tell  you  that  it 
would  be  worth  while  for  you  to  make  a  study 
of  newspapers  and  to  select  one,  intelligently, 
as  yours.    How  would  you  go  about  it?    That 


The  Place  of  the  Newspaper     49 

useful  fellow-citizen  of  ours,  the  Average  Person, 
cannot,  after  reading  a  newspaper  without  having 
had  warning  of  a  quiz  to  cQme,  tell  you  with 
any  positiveness  of  conviction  what  is  that  paper's 
distinctive  character;  why  it  is  better  or  worse 
than  others;  what  is  the  value  of  its  editorial 
pronouncements;  whether  it  gives  preponderance 
to  one  sort  or  another  sort  of  matter;  what  is  its 
principal  emphasis,  or  tone;  whether  its  news  is 
honest  and  reUable  or  tinted  with  prejudice. 

This  is  not  morally  reprehensible,  but  it  is  a 
revelation  of  the  common  immimity  from  the 
possibly  distressing  consequences  of  too  tense  an 
alertness,  too  sensitive  a  reaction  to  changing 
influences.  Not  many  of  us  can  give  a  satisfac- 
tory description  of  a  town  visited  casually,  or  a 
street  passed  through,  or  a  person  newly  met: 
a  description  vividly  pictorial  or  constructively 
suggestive.  The  Average  Person  will  tell  you 
quite  easily  that  a  certain  newspaper  is  "yellow," 
or  ultra-conservative,  as  the  fact  may  be;  in 
about  the  same  way  that  he  will  tell  you  that  a 
certain  new  acquaintance  is  bright  or  rather  dull, 
brilliant  or  "ordinary." 


50  Books  and  Folks 

Is  the  Newspaper  Clean  ? 

If  you  begin  to  read  alertly  a  newspaper  that 
you  have  been  "glancing  through"  in  the  per- 
functory way  of  most  readers,  you  may  suddenly 
have  your  attention  challenged  by  a  clue  to  dis- 
honesty in  the  articles;  perhaps  an  intentional 
misrepresentation,  perhaps  an  accidental  one, 
the  result  of  the  human  fallibility  that  oftentimes 
bewrays  those  whose  intentions  are  honest. 
You  may  find  inconsistencies  between  editorial 
"poHcy"  and  the  news  reports;  partisan  bias 
showing  through,  in  degrees  that  vary  from 
legitimate  independence  of  critical  comment  to 
unscrupulous  suppression  or  distortion  of  facts. 
You  may  find  that  your  paper  is  not  clean,  or 
that  advertisers  can  dictate  to  the  editors,  or 
that  it  is  devoted  to  propaganda.  Many  hitherto 
unsuspected  clues  to  character  will  develop, 
as  you  read  with  your  newly  sharpened  vision. 

Yellow  journaHsm  is  abhorrent ;  but  a  newspaper 
that  could  be  called  a  reservoir  of  Respectable 
Mediocrity  would  be — though  less  harmful — almost 
equally  detestable.  Not  many  American  news- 
papers are  dull;  but  one  may  be  aristocratically 


The  Place  of  the  Newspaper     51 

eclectic  in  its  selection  of  What-to-Print,  and 
another  democratically  inclusive.  A  third  may- 
indulge  in  a  cleverness  whose  acid  biu*ns  out  the 
desirable  element  of  sincerity.  Honesty  is  the 
first  requirement;  if  style  can  be  added,  so  much 
the  better.  Honest  news  and  sincere  comment 
are  what  people  want.  It  is  frequently  said  that 
editorial  pages  don't  count,  now  that  there  are 
no  more  great  editors.  But  there  are  more  good 
editors  today  than  ever  before;  so  many  of  them 
that  their  individual  personalities  are  merged 
in  the  corporate  personalities  of  the  papers. 
A  little  editor  makes  a  little  page ;  a  man  of  quality 
and  power  makes  his  page  shine  with  the  light 
of  leading. 

Cash  Value  of  Faith. 

So  great  is  the  Power  of  the  Press  that,  even 
though  one  believes  in  the  personal  honor  and 
professional  pride  of  editors  as  a  safeguard,  it  is 
disturbing  to  reflect  on  the  extent  of  the  oppor- 
tunity for  mischief  opened  to  the  unscrupulous 
by  the  popular  superstition  that  makes  the  printed 
word  almost  sacred.     People  are  credulous,  not 


52  Books  and  Folks 

critical;  they  give  their  invaluable  faith  more 
readily  than  they  would  part  with  the  smallest 
units  of  tangible  value. 

Government  regulation  or  censorship  of  news- 
papers would  be  utterly  im-American;  in  all 
ways  unprofitable,  and  in  many  ways  actively 
injurious.  Assailants  of  the  integrity  of  the 
newspaper  profession  find  little  support  in  popular 
favor;  yet  they  can  and  often  do  disturb  our 
equilibrium.  We  thought  professional  baseball 
protected  by  the  impossibility  of  "throwing" 
a  game  and  "getting  away  with  it"  before  an 
intensely  critical  assemblage  of  thousands  of 
spectators — until  a  coterie  of  gamblers  led  to  the 
destruction  of  our  complacent  assurance. 

The  worst  the  newspapers  have  to  fear  from 
the  attacks  upon  their  probity  of  character  is  the 
vague,  undefined,  but  poisonous  suspicion  that 
may  easily  be  aroused  and  cannot  be  quite 
coimteracted.  And  the  best  thing  that  readers  can 
do  for  self -protection  is  to  read  with  their  eyes 
open  and  their  minds  alert;  to  know  what  makes 
a  newspaper  good  or  bad;  to  let  their  praise  or 
censure  be  understood  where  they  have  a  voice 


The  Place  of  the  Newspaper     53 

— ^in  the  Circulation  Office;  and  in  all  ways  to 
use  their  influence  for  the  raising  of  standards. 

You  and  I  have  heard  people  speak  with  amuse- 
ment or  scorn  of  the  Country  Weekly.  You 
and  I,  who  as  Intelligent  Readers  have  a  proper 
Sense  of  Values,  do  not  err  in  that  way.  We 
respect,  and  moderately  admire,  the  "local" 
paper  as  an  Institution,  the  Mouthpiece  of  Demo- 
cracy, the  moulder  and  reflector  of  Public  Opinion, 
the  Educator  of  the  Masses,  the  Scripture  searched 
by  the  multitudes,  the  Guiding  Star  of  the 
Provinces,  the  articulation  of  the  yearnings  of 
the  non-effete,  the  Bible  of  the  Commonalty, 
the  wellspring  of  the  Great  Silent  Vote.  Here 
is  the  true  Power  of  the  Press ;  not  its  best  beauty, 
not  its  most  imposing  manifestation;  not  its 
furthest  reach,  but  its  surest  grasp:  its  influence, 
might,  and  power  working  in  the  world. 

Certainly,  Literature  has  done  more  to  make 
life  beautiful,  but  it  has  not  contributed  so  much 
to  its  management. 


BOORS  AND  FOLKS 


A  LITTLE  MORE  THAN 
NEWSPAPER— A  LITTLE 
LESS  THAN  BOOK 


55 


CHAPTER  IV 

A  UTTLE  MORE  THAN  NEWSPAPER — ^A  LITTLE  LESS 
THAN  BOOK 

Between  the  newspaper  and  the  book,  on  the 
ascending  scale  of  publication  according  to  the 
commonly  accepted  but  not  infallible  standard 
of  measurement,  is  the  Magazine.  What  a 
welter  of  these  products  of  the  press  confronts  you 
from  a  thousand  store  counters  and  ten  thousand 
news  stands!  Here  is  one  offering  something 
Hke  the  equivalent  of  three  books  a  week,  for  a 
nickel  a  number.  Here  are  trade  magazines, 
and  science  magazines,  and  women's  magazines; 
read  largely,  these  last,  by  the  women's  husbands. 
Fad  magazines,  funny  magazines,  solemn  Quar- 
terlies and  learned  Reviews;  periodical  outbursts 
of  Spicy  Stories,  Pink-and-Purple-Plaid  Books; 
religious  magazines,  farm-Hfe  magazines  for  city 
folks;  art  magazines,  music  magazines;   weekly, 

57 


58  Books  and  Folks 

semi-weekly,  bi-weekly,  monthly  magazines ;  maga- 
zines of  all  imaginable  shapes,  sizes,  colors  and 
flavors ;  magazines  by  the  ton,  reading  by  the  acre, 
advertising  by  the  square  mile.  A  very  mild  case 
of  brain-softening  might  lead  to  apprehension 
lest  this  whirUng  ball  our  Earth  be  turned  from  its 
track  in  space  by  the  weight  of  America's  mountain 
of  magazines  and  dropped  to  the  bottom  of  the 
universe — which  must  have  a  bottom  somewhere. 
Why  do  most  people  think — as  most  people 
apparently  do  think — that  the  magazines  are 
superior  to  the  newspapers,  and  only  a  little 
lower  than  the  books?  Is  it  because  they  are 
more  showy;  printed  on  better  paper,  with  more 
careful  t3rpography  and  with  halftones  instead 
of  line  cuts — and  because  they  cost  more?  Or 
is  it  because  we  read  them  more  at  leisure  and  in 
more  dignified  moments?  A  weekly  or  monthly 
magazine  can  be  edited  more  deliberately  and  with 
greater  care  than  a  daily  newspaper;  but  the 
newspapers  print  column  after  column  of  matter 
quite  good  enough  for  any  magazine,  and  the 
magazines  print  some  articles  that  a  newspaper 
editor  would  reject  for  lack  of  "quaHty." 


More  Than  Newspaper         59 

The  magazines  print  many  compositions  that 
are  later  published  in  book  form.  Magazine 
serial  publication  is  one  of  the  many  stages  of 
existence  for  literary  material — book  publication, 
cheap  reprint,  newspaper  syndicate,  stage  and 
screen  production  are  the  others — that  give  rise 
to  the  query  whether  there  is  in  Literature  any 
such  restraining  influence  as  that  which  in  Eco- 
nomics is  known  as  the  Law  of  Diminishing 
Returns.  Each  of  these  phases  of  public  presen- 
tation makes  available  a  new  Market,  in  which  a 
distinct  Demand  is  satisfied.  Each  Demand 
has  justification  in  the  fact  that  by  satisfaction 
of  one  want  the  public  is  stimulated  to  the  quest 
for  satisfaction  of  a  new  want,  frequently  of  a 
somewhat  higher  order  than  the  first.  Perhaps 
this  theory  will  not  hold  water;  how  can  you  test 
it?  But  it  is  at  least  cheerful  to  believe  that 
newspaper  readers  can  graduate  to  the  magazines, 
and  magazine  readers  to  popular  books  and  read- 
ers of  popular  books  to  Literature.  The  theory 
is  not  upset  by  the  fact  that  the  people  you 
and  I  know  read  some  newspapers,  some  maga- 
zines,  some  ephemeral  books  and  some  of  the 


6o  Books  and  Folks 

Great  Books:  even  if  only  in  a  Library  of  Best 
Literature. 

Magazines  and  Markets 

The  newspapers  can  hardly  be  said  to  have 
undergone,  in  the  past  thirty  or  forty  years,  such 
changes  as  have  occurred  in  the  magazine  world. 
The  newspapers  have  become  much  larger,  and 
they  present  more  diversified  appearance  than  in 
the  old  days;  but  their  constitution  is  essentially 
unaltered.  The  magazines,  however,  have  taken 
on  an  aspect  wholly  new.  The  newspaper  does 
not  lay  aside  its  old,  broad,  many-columned  page 
in  favor  of  the  small  page  with  one  or  two  wide 
columns;  but  a  great  many  magazines  have 
abandoned  the  once  conventional  size  and  have 
spread  out  the  reading-surface,  taking  on  the 
form  of  what  their  publishers  call  "flats."  This 
physical  change  is  as  nothing,  measured  beside 
the  development  of  "field." 

Godey's  Ladies'  Book  is  gone;  how  gloriously 
reincarnated  in  the  present-day  magazines  for 
women!  The  old  Mirror,  with  its  cracked  re- 
flection of  Morris  and  Willis,  is  known  only  to  be 


More  Than  Newspaper         6i 

antiquarian  researcher  into  the  life  of  our  Knick- 
erbocker forebears.  John  Donkey  was  a  political 
magazine  full  of  humor  the  most  robustious; 
what  is  there  to  compare  with  it  now?  Probably 
the  men  who  made  it  would  scorn  the  dull  re- 
spectability of  periodicals  in  which  pohtical  com- 
ment and  discussion  are  presented  nowadays. 
There  would  be  some  justification  for  their  scorn, 
too;  for  a  little  seasoning  of  wit  and  a  Httle  hard 
hitting  are  good  things  in  political  discussion. 
It  is,  certainly,  impossible  to  regret  the  passing 
of  the  coarseness  that  pervaded  the  poHtical 
writing  of  the  Roaring  'Forties ! 

No  magazine  can  long  survive  without  readers. 
The  multiplicity  of  magazines  may  be  an  embar- 
rassment to  the  reader  who  wants  to  keep  up  with 
the  procession;  but  each  magazine  demonstrates, 
by  the  mere  fact  of  its  continuing  existence, 
the  presence  and  accessibility  of  a  Market  for 
its  wares.  Among  the  multitude  of  publica- 
tions there  must  surely  be  one  that  fits  some 
need  of  your  own  reading-life;  some  one  that 
publishes,  week  after  week  or  month  after 
month,   articles   or   stories — or    both — that   you 


62  Books  and  Folks 

can   follow  with   pleasure   or   profit — or,    again, 
both. 

Magazines  for  Children 

If  you  are  a  parent,  or  even  only  an  uncle  or 
aunt,  you  will  be  interested  in  the  magazines  that 
the  children  read.  The  youngsters,  like  the  old- 
sters, have  many  more  magazines  from  which  a 
selection  may  be  made  than  belonged  to  the 
reading  world  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  The 
number  has  not  increased  so  hugely  as  has  that 
of  the  grown-up  magazines;  still,  the  possibilities 
of  choice  are  very  much  richer. 

In  the  magazines  for  boys  or  girls,  or  for  boys 
and  girls,  the  variety  like  the  number,  is  less  than 
that  which  is  observable  in  magazines  for  the  elders. 
I  do  not  know  that  there  is  even  a  distinction 
between  a  smaU  aristocratic  group  and  a  large 
democratic  one.  The  wonder  of  it  is  that  there 
are  so  many,  so  good.  The  greatest  care  is  taken 
in  the  editing  of  these  magazines ;  and,  of  course, 
in  these  lively  days,  the  purpose  is  not  so  prim 
and  precise  as  formerly.  The  object  is  to  give 
the  young  people  the  same  satisfaction  from  their 


More  Than  Newspaper         63 

own  publications  that  the  grown-ups  derive  from 
theirs :  not  merely  to  instruct,  not  merely  to  please 
but  to  combine  pleasure  and  instruction  in  the 
very  best  way.  And  the  object  of  this  endeavor 
is  achieved  in  commendable  fashion. 

The  Man  Behind  the  Magazine 

Perhaps  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  ex- 
patiate, quite  briefly,  on  the  character  of  the  men 
who  edit  magazines.  It  is  not  the  result  of 
"happenchance"  that,  if  you  know  three  or  four 
editors,  you  find  them  admirable  men.  It  is 
not  by  accident  that  as  your  acquaintance  with 
editors  expands  you  find  this  impression  con- 
firmed by  the  evidence  of  numbers.  The  editorial 
profession  is  one  of  the  most  exacting  nature. 
Its  duties,  its  responsibilities — and  its  privileges — 
appeal  to  men  who  have,  joined  with  high  and 
well-defined  Ideals,  the  practical  power  to  carry 
them  to  fulfilment. 

Your  true  editor  is  inconspicuous;  the  public 
knows  him  only  in  his  work.  He  has  the  strength 
and  the  flexibility  of  tempered  steel.  He  is  as 
clear  headed  as  any  business  man  and  as  warmly 


64  Books  and  Folks 

human  as  a  mother  with  her  first  child.  He  can 
be  rigid,  but  he  is  resiHent.  He  does  not  talk 
about  virtue,  but  there  is  virtue  in  his  talk.  He 
is  strong,  and  wise,  and  sincere;  otherwise  he  could 
not  be  a  great  editor.  His  head  grows  older, 
but  his  heart  stays  young.  The  men  who  make 
our  great  newspapers  and  great  magazines  are  like 
this.  The  Public  owes  them  something;  and  the 
Public  ought  to  know  it. 

Choosing  for  the  Children 

As  you  look  over  the  magazines  for  boys  and 
girls  before  deciding  which  one  to  give  to  the  boys 
and  girls  of  your  special  interest,  it  may  seem  to 
you  that  they  are  superlatively  clever  in  make-up, 
rather  high-keyed  in  story  and  article,  and  just 
a  shade  self-conscious  editorially.  Perhaps  they 
will  seem  to  you  to  have  abundant  sparkle  but 
no  glow.  Dear  Sir  or  Madam,  place  a  copy  of 
one  of  these  magazines  before  young  Miss  or  Mas- 
ter Twenty-one,  and  watch  what  men  of  business 
call  the  Reaction !  Yoiu"  eyes  will  be  opened.  If 
you  are  very,  very  wise,  you  will  perceive  that 
the  mind  of  Fourteen  is  not  the  mind  of  Forty. 


More  Than  Newspapef  65 

Middle-age  tends  to  ignore  or  defy  youth, 
or  else  pre-tends  to  understand  and  sympathize 
with  it.  Either  frank  detachment  or  open 
combat  is  more  honest  than  the  other  thing; 
but  middle-age  is  not  particularly  honest .  Middle- 
age  is  conventionally  hypocritical,  or  hypointically 
conventional — self-defensively.  The  more  stoutly 
it  denies  the  so-ness  of  a  fact,  the  more  clearly  it 
reveals  its  ruling  apprehension.  Middle-age,  if 
it  were  honest,  utterly  honest,  would  have  to 
confess  to  a  deep-down  sense  of  fear  and  inferiority 
in  the  presence  of  Youth. 

The  duty  of  forming  the  character  of  a  yoimg 
person  and  informing  his  or  her  mind  is  a  fairly 
hefty  one.  Very  often  those  upon  whom  it 
devolves  defeat  their  own  purpose  by  taking  it 
with  an  exaggeratedly  serious  sense  of  responsi- 
bility that  cramps  the  moral  muscle  and  films  the 
parental  eye.  There  is,  along  with  its  rather 
sardonic  humor,  a  decided  dash  of  good  sense  in 
the  alleged  remark  made  by  a  minister  to  whom 
a  perplexed  parent  had  gone  for  counsel:  "If 
your  boy  is  all  right,  you  don't  need  to  worry; 
if  he  isn't,  all  the  worry  in  the  world  won't  change 


66  Books  and  Folks 

him."  This  is  not  a  counsel  of  despair  or  default; 
just  a  reminder  that  the  youngsters  have  their 
own  way  to  make  in  the  world,  and  must  not  be 
coerced  even  by  the  wisdom  of  their  elders. 

It  boils  down  to  this :  that  in  every  home  where 
there  are  children  there  should  be  at  least  one 
good  magazine  for  the  children  to  read.  And  in 
selecting  that  magazine  you  may  quite  safely 
accept  to  a  certain  extent,  as  a  factor  in  your 
guidance,  the  preference  shown  by  the  children 
themselves.  If  they  are  healthy,  normal  young- 
sters, their  natural  instinct  will  direct  them  safely 
through  the  stages  of  progression  to  their  own 
middle-age-to-be.  I  do  not  know  that  there 
can  really  be  such  a  thing  as  a  successful  unsound 
or  unsafe  magazine  for  boys  and  girls ! 

Thus  the  matter  narrows  down  to  a  choice 
between  such  things  as  a  possible  preponderance 
either  of  Story  or  of  Information.  Why  not  try 
simply  to  see  that  the  two  are  joined  in  nice  pro- 
portion, and  let  it  go  at  that?  The  successful 
editor  is  almost  sure,  in  fact,  to  do  it  for  you. 
What  you  need  to  remember  is  that  every  boy 
has  to  go  through  the  Frank  Fowler  the  Cash  Boy 


More  Than  Newspaper         67 

stage,  or  its  modern  equivalent;  to  enter  the  lists 
with  the  Black  Knight;  to  kill  Mingoes  with 
Hawkeye,  and  commit  piracy  and  a  few  other 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  with  Long  John 
Silver  before  he  can  settle  down  to  reading  that  is 
less  highly  spiced  with  adventure.  And  the  young 
girl  whose  reading  ration  is  balanced,  with  a 
fairly  generous  element  of  romance  and  sentiment, 
is  the  less  apt  to  pay  too  high  a  price  for  the 
romance  that  will  come  into  her  own  life.  Do  not, 
therefore,  in  attempting  to  regulate  the  children's 
reading  of  magazines,  prescribe  for  youth  as  though 
it  were  afHicted  with  the  ills  of  middle-age.  Bless 
them! — their  time  for  that  will  come  quite  soon 
enough. 

A  Product  oj  Intelligence 

There  remains  for  consideration  the  matter  of 
your  own  reading  of  magazines.  The  modern 
magazine  has  a  place  of  genuine  importance  in 
our  Scheme  of  Things.  It  ought  not  to  be  either 
neglected  or  overdone.  Do  not  be  ashamed 
to  give  serious  consideration  to  your  choice; 
do  not,  on  the  other  hand,  take  your  magazines 


68  Books  and  Folks 

too  seriously.  Find  what  you  want;  what  you 
like,  and  what  will,  in  the  vulgar  phrase,  "give 
you  the  most  for  your  money."  You  select  your 
necktie,  your  work,  your  food ;  why  not  let  reason 
guide  your  selection  of  magazine  reading?  Why 
not  make  it,  not  oppressively  but  enjoyably,  a 
matter  of  intelligence  rather  than  chance? 

The  newspaper  and  the  magazine,  coming  out 
day  after  day,  week  after  week  or  month  after 
month,  are  not  products  of  haphazard  energy, 
but  are  patterned  with  utmost  care  and  periodi- 
cally reaHzed  as  the  fruit  of  finely  trained  intel- 
ligence. In  all  good  logic,  an  intelligence  suited  to 
this  one  ought  to  guide  the  reader  in  his  selection. 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


HIS  MAJESTY  THE  BOOR 


69 


CHAPTER  V 

HIS   MAJESTY   THE   BOOK 

Man  is  superior  to  the  beasts  by  as  much  as 
the  power  of  speech  indicates.  The  superiority  of 
civilized  man  over  the  barbarian  may  be  meas- 
ured by  the  difference  between  rudimentary 
speech  and  grammatic  language.  The  German 
war  power  was  the  more  frightful  because,  revert- 
ing to  primitive  motives,  it  employed  civilized 
mind-machinery  to  execute  the  barbaric  impulse. 

Does  man  grow,  or  does  he  only  accimiulate? 
Is  the  mind  of  man  in  1921  A.D.  a  more  perfect 
engine  than  the  mind  of  man  was  in  1921  B.c? 
We  progress  in  discovery  and  invention.  The 
treasury  of  knowledge  is  ever  more  richly  stored, 
new  physical  facts  are  detected,  new  vistas  open 
before  us,  revealing  relations  previously  unper- 
ceived ;  and  the  diffusion  of  knowledg©^  increases, 
importantly.     But  we  are  still,  as  ten  thousand 

71 


72  BcxDks  and  Folks 

years  ago,  confined  to  the  material  universe.  We 
do  not  think  as  gods  would  think. 

Are  poems  more  perfectly  wrought  than  Homer 
and  Horace  wrought  them?  Are  nobler  word- 
structures  built  now  than  are  in  the  Testaments? 
What  modern  philosopher  excels  Plato  either  in 
reach  or  in  grasp? 

Who  has  invented  any  new  way  of  adjusting 
the  conflicting  interests  of  individual  units  in 
commimity  life,  in  city,  state,  nation  or  world 
society?  You  cannot  imagine  a  League  of  Na- 
tions that  is  a  fusion  rather  than  a  welding  of 
elements.  Man  is  still  not  Man,  but  men. 
(And  Life  is  more  interesting  so !) 

Mr.  Wells  began  his  Outline  of  History  with  a 
progenitor  of  ours  who  was  not  more  than  three  or 
iouT  feet  tall,  and  it  is  possible  that  a  few  thousand 
centtuies  from  now  human  bodies  will  average  nine 
or  ten  feet  in  length.  It  is  not  easy  to  get  excited 
about  the  men  and  things  of  ten  thousand  years 
ago  or  ten  thousand  years  hence.  Our  interest  has 
a  lesser  range ;  but  the  restriction  does  not  dull  it. 

Photographs  are  transmitted  by  telegraph,  and 
perhaps  before  we  who  now  cumber  the  earth 


His  Majesty  the  Book  73 

cease  to  make  shadows  on  its  seemly  surface  in- 
vention will  revolutionize  as  startlingly  the  means 
of  transmitting  thought.  Strange  things  have 
happened  since  the  gentleman  of  legend  resigned 
his  Patent  Office  position  because  there  remained 
"nothing  to  invent." 

But  the  transmission  of  photographs  by  electric 
current  is  physical.  It  is  in  the  line  of  logic  that 
starts  with  the  wheel  and  goes  to  belt-and-puUey 
transmission  of  power.  It  is  more  mystifying  to 
the  mind  not  trained  in  science  because  of  the 
employment  of  an  invisible  agent.  But  the  es- 
sence of  it  is  mechanical;  and  the  mind  is  a  terri- 
tory in  which  we  have  taken  only  the  first  few 
steps  of  a  very  long  journey.  Psychologists  and 
psychometrists  observe  mental  phenomena,  an- 
alyze and  classify  them,  and  suggest  social  econo- 
mics in  the  use  of  mind-material,  but  they  can- 
not make  a  poor  mind  good  or  a  good  mind  better, 
in  a  creative  sense.  A  man  may  train  his  mental 
muscle,  acquire  the  discipline  of  concentration; 
but  he  cannot  go  beyond  his  native  mental 
potentiality.  Few  of  us  ever  get  within  hailing 
distance  of  its  boundary! 


74  Books  and  Folks 

The  Service  oj  Books. 

Books  came  into  the  world  when,  century  by 
century,  the  philoprogenitive  instinct  of  the  human 
animal  developed,  through  the  stage  of  family 
consciousness,  to  an  interest  in  race  continuance. 
The  desire  of  a  man  to  be  remembered  by  his 
sons  and  his  sons'  sons  as  a  great  warrior  or 
hunter  expanded  into  appetite  for  wider  and  more 
lasting  fame.  First  the  carved  symbol,  then  the 
rune;  next  the  written  word,  and  finally — if 
finally  it  be ! — Print.  Not  until  men  learned  how 
to  perpetuate  their  thoughts  did  they  attain 
effectiveness  in  their  striving  to  contribute  to  the 
progress  of  mankind  toward  some  ultimate  goal. 
The  supplanting  of  legend  by  history  is  a  matter 
of  books.  How  far  could  science  have  gone 
without  paper  and  ink? 

Books  are  not  casual  things.  Books  fre- 
quently lodge  in  places  where  there  is  no  cul- 
ture, but  culture  seldom  resides  where  there 
are  no  books.  "You  can  live  without  art,  you 
can  live  without  books,  But  civilized  man 
cannot  Hve  without  cooks"  is  the  humorist's 
way    of    pa5dng    tribute    to   the  importance   of 


His  Majesty  the  Book  75 

books.  The  printed  volume  is  as  indispensable 
a  part  of  twentieth  century  life  as  trousers 
and  skirts.  The  economist,  I  suppose,  would 
see  books  partly  as  goods  but  primarily  as 
services.  The  one  deathless  passion  of  man- 
kind is  for  stories.  The  storyteller  of  anci- 
ent times  could  serve  as  many  folk  as  could 
gather  within  range  of  his  voice;  the  storyteller 
now  reaches  an  audience  limited  only  by  degree 
of  literacy. 

An  O.  Henry  writes  a  story  for  a  magazine, 
and  each  reader  pays,  in  the  price  of  the  mag- 
azine, his  share  of  O.  Henry's  wage  and  the 
magazine's  accoimt  as  middleman.  Multiplica- 
tion in  print  enables  the  storyteller  to  serve 
so  many  more  people  than  a  blacksmith  or  tail- 
or can  serve  that,  by  assessing  each  beneficiary 
in  the  smallest  units  of  currency,  the  spin- 
ner of  yarns  may  amass  a  fortune  where  the 
shoer  of  horses  or  clothier  of  his  kind  makes 
but  a  competence.  The  service  of  the  artist 
outruns  in  value  the  product  of  the  artisan, 
because  of  the  wonder-working  of  reproductive 
processes. 


76  Books  and  Folks 

From  Intelligence  to  Intellect 

Generation  after  generation  of  horses  lives  upon 
earth,  and  passes  away — and  have  you  ever 
heard  of  any  horses  that  knew  about  things  that 
had  happened  before  their  Hfetime  or  cared  about 
things  that  would  happen  after  it:  except  the 
Houyhnhnms,  in  a  book?  Myriads  of  ani- 
mals draw  their  sustenance  from  the  earth  and 
are  swallowed  up  in  the  endless  cycles  of  its 
chemistry;  and  what  has  been  achieved?  They 
receive  nothing  from  their  ancestors,  they  leave 
nothing  to  their  descendants.  The  breea  evolves, 
physically;  the  fittest  survive,  and  the  brute 
qualities  of  keen  sight  and  scent,  stealth  or  strength 
in  attack  or  defence,  are  preserved  and  improved. 
But  wolf  is  wolf  and  lion  is  lion  though  aeons 
pass;  and  wolf  nor  lion  can  find  a  better  way  of 
living,  or  a  way  to  live  longer — a  way  to  make 
history,  or  a  way  to  fit  the  physical  world  to  the 
mould  of  desire.  Just  the  seemingly  senseless 
drama,  over  and  over  again,  of  animation  without 
optation. 

To  one  animal  it  was  given  to  advance  from 
intelligence  to  intellect,  from  voice  to  articulate 


His  Majesty  the  Book  77 

speech;  and  that  animal  shaped  the  soul  of  the 
universe. 

Better  to  Read  Foolishly  Than  Not  to  Read  at  All 

From  such  premisses  we  arrive  at  a  reason 
for  a  special  respect  for  books,  and  for  reading 
in  general.  Not  many  of  us  ever  bother  to  seek 
a  reason.  Some  of  us  are  born  into  and  grow 
up  amid  bookish  surroundings.  Perhaps  these 
are  of  all  persons  the  ones  who  give  the  least 
conscious  attention  to  books;  they  accept  Print 
as  a  natural  fact,  like  the  air  they  breathe.  Others 
of  us  accept  books  just  as  we  accept  the  conven- 
tions of  civilized  life.  Children  will  eat  bread  but- 
tered side  down,  until  "taught  better";  so  the  full 
savor  of  the  spread  is  theirs.  Surrendering  to  the 
tyranny  of  table  etiquette,  they  are  soon  educated 
out  of  the  way  of  nature.  We  send  them  to  school, 
and  make  them  learn  to  read.  And  some  few 
of  us  experience  the  Awakening  of  Curiosity,  or 
Intellectual  Birth,  and  from  the  joy  of  an  acciden- 
tal discovery  pass  on  to  the  venturing  life  of  the 
explorer,  with  its  labors  and  its  rich  rewards. 

I  remember,  when  I  was  a  youngster,  being 


78  Books  and  Folks 

called  over  the  fence  by  the  doctor's  man,  next 
door,  and  asked  to  read  some  bills.  He  was  a 
colored  man  of  excellent  appearance  and  deport- 
ment; a  good  coachman,  and  able  and  willing — 
those  were  simple  days! — to  render  rather  distin- 
guished service  as  a  houseman  when  occasion 
called  for  display.  And  he  was  completely 
illiterate !  I  read  his  bills  for  him ;  and  I  remember 
even  then  being  impressed,  not  by  the  man's 
loss  of  pleasure  in  literature  but  by  the  amazing 
fact  that  here  was  a  grown  person  so  separated 
from  the  civilization  in  which  he  lived  that  he 
could  share  its  most  distinctive  exercise  no  more 
than  could  one  of  his  own  admirably  tended, 
sleek  coach  horses. 

And  now  I  wonder  just  how  diiferent  is  the  case 
of  literate  persons  who  "don't  care  to  read." 
There  are  such,  you  know;  fine  folks,  pillars  of 
the  church  and  props  of  society,  able  men  and 
admirable  citizens;  whose  last  resort,  for  pleasure 
or  improvement,  is  the  Printed  Page.  My  negro 
friend  hadn't  the  art  of  reading;  they,  possessing 
it,  deny  themselves  its  usufruct.  They  are 
strictly  utilitarian  readers;  at  best,  they  employ 


His  Majesty  the  Book  79 

a  Sunday  Supplement,  a  popular  magazine  or 
a  volume  of  very  Light  Fiction,  to  relieve  the 
tedium  of  a  terrible  hour  when  there  is  no  one 
to  talk  to,  no  place  to  go  to,  nothing  to  do.  Ho — 
hum — let's  read;  as  long  as  we  can  stand  it! 

Let  no  time  and  sarcasm  be  wasted  on  My 
Lady  and  her  Boudoir  Novel;  on  the  Diamond 
Dan  and  Dead  Men's  Gtilch  School  of  Juvenile 
Fiction;  on  the  debutante  and  her  PoUyanna 
revels;  on  the  marchpane,  whipped  cream  or 
pastry  surfeiters;  on  the  pundits  who  read  pro- 
fundities only,  and  miss  the  Joy  of  Books.  Verily, 
something  good  could  be  said  of  each  and  all! 
Nothing  is  wholly  good,  nothing  wholly  bad, 
in  this  funny  old  world.  Praise  needs  some  blame 
to  give  it  tone,  and  blame  without  praise  burns  with 
its  acid  the  hand  that  administers  the  dose  as  well 
as  the  throat  of  him  who  must  swallow  it.  1 1  is  bet- 
ter to  read  foolishly  than  not  to  read  at  all.  And 
more  people  are  reading  now  than  ever  before. 

But,  since  no  one  can  wholly  escape  Print,  since 
read  we  must,  why  not  make  it  a  conscious  joy 
and  a  reasoned  delight,  and  read  with  discrimina- 
tion and  direction? 


8o  Books  and  Folks 

Largesse  of  the  Printed  Page 

The  greatest  power  of  man  is  in  his  books. 
If  all  the  engineers  and  artists  and  doctors  and 
lawyers  and  teachers  died  today  and  their  works — 
except  those  written — perished  with  them,  men 
could  from  their  books  quickly  learn  the  secrets 
of  their  arts,  and  reconstruct  the  lost  monuments. 
The  thought  of  the  ages  is  conserved  for  us  on 
the  printed  page.  The  discoveries  of  science  are 
immortalized  in  type  and  the  engraver's  plate. 
The  distilled  and  concentrated  essence  of  human 
experience  is  stored  in  the  libraries ;  and  the  doors 
of  the  treasure  house  are  open. 

This  very  day,  a  blind  man  asked  me  to  advise 
him  which  dictionary  to  buy.  His  good  old 
mother  has  cried  out  against  God,  in  her  heart,  for 
letting  the  light  pass  out  from  her  son's  eyes. 
She  reads  and  reads  to  him ;  I  think,  with  a  min- 
gling in  equal  parts  of  joy  in  love's  service  and 
of  defiance  to  what  she  regards  as  the  Creator's 
malignance,  or  at  least  reprehensible  negligence. 
I  should  like,  for  one  hour,  to  be  able  to  read 
as  that  man  "reads";  in  unmitigated  physical 
darkness,   without  distraction,   in  utter  concen- 


His  Majesty  the  Book  Si 

tration.  I  imagine  the  words  print  themselves 
in  white  letters  on  his  mind:  I  imagine  his  read- 
ing "stays  by  him."  He  cannot  read  omnivo- 
rously;  and,  after  school  and  college  days,  most 
of  us,  except  the  teachers  and  the  preachers  and 
the  Leisure  Class,  are  like  my  blind  man :  limited 
almost  as  closely  in  our  reading  possibilities  by  the 
rarity  of  "spare"  moments  or  hours  as  he  is  by  his 
physical  dependence  upon  borrowed  eyes.  It  is 
as  though  we  were  blind,  and  a  fairy  came  to  us 
now  and  again  and  touched  our  sealed  eyelids  with 
the  light  tip  of  her  magic  wand,  and  said,  "Now 
for  an  evening,  or  a  Saturday  afternoon,  or  a  Sun- 
day or  a  holiday,  you  shall  see,  and  read."  Then 
we  would  prize  more  highly  the  largesse  of  the 
printed  page ! 

In  this  chapter  we  have  been  thinking  of  the 
multitudinosity  of  books;  and  that  suggests  the 
great  Problem  of  Selection,  discrimination,  elimi- 
nation and  concentration.  In  an  earlier  chapter 
we  celebrated  the  joys  of  omnivorous,  more  or  less 
haphazard,  diffuse  and  unregulated  reading.  The 
apparent  inconsistency  of  counsel  is  easily  recon- 
cilable: For  youth  the  beauty  of  every  field,  the 


82  Books  and  Folks 

wayside  flower,  the  wilding  fruit ;  for  sober  middle- 
age,  the  system  and  order  of  productive  cultiva- 
tion. Each  fits  its  proper  age,  and  each  is  worth 
while,  but  either  in  the  other's  place  is  badly  placed. 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


GOOD  READING,  BETTER 
LIVING 


83 


CHAPTER  VI 

GOOD  READING,    BETTER  LIVING 

Reading  is  part  of  the  fulness  of  living.  Every- 
body reads ;  little  or  much,  newspapers,  magazines, 
or  books,  everybody  reads.  Some  folks  ought  to 
read  more,  and  others  might  be  better  off  if  they 
read  less,  but  read  more  thoroughly  and  alertly. 
Almost  everybody  could,  in  one  way  or  another, 
improve  his  reading  and  make  it  a  more  gainful, 
more  constructive  exercise  of  the  intelligence,  a 
source  of  enrichment  in  life.  No  matter  how  we 
may  shrink  from  explicit  statement  of  the  fact,  either 
in  conversation  or  in  our  secret  thoughts,  almost 
every  one  of  us  is  striving  for  self  improvement. 

Reading  is  part  of  the  fulness  of  living. 

Some  readers  seek  only  information;  some  ask 
nothing  more  than  amusement,  and  others  there 
a^'e  who  go  to  books  for  inspiration.  The  best 
reading  combines  these  three  good  things. 

85 


86  Books  and  Folks 

Trade  Journals  Jor  God's  Creatures 

If  John  Smith,  the  Hardware  Man,  were  to  read 
nothing  but  his  trade  journal,  he  would  be  likely 
to  become  as  hard  as  the  ware  in  which  he  trades. 
When  he  reads  his  newspaper,  he  pushes  his  hori- 
zon back,  if  but  a  little  way;  and  any  widening  of 
the  horizon  is  good. 

When  the  hardware  man  reads  a  good  bit  of 
fiction,  a  magazine  short  story,  or  a  novel,  he  is 
relaxing,  and  storing  strength  for  the  next  day's 
routine  of  busines.  And  when  he  spends  an 
evening  or  a  Sunday  afternoon  with  one  of  the 
world's  great  books,  then  he  is  no  longer  John 
Smith  the  hardware  man,  but  John  Smith,  God's 
creature,  raising  himself  to  a  higher  plane  of  life 
than  the  bread-and-butter  level. 

John  Smith  is  going  to  be  a  better  man,  a  good 
deal  more  of  a  man,  if  this  reading  of  his  is 
consciously  directed :  not  too  conscientiously  regu- 
lated, so  that  it  becomes  discipline  without  pleas- 
ure, but  directed  with  just  so  much  exercise  of 
intelligence  and  deliberate  judgment  that  the  men- 
tal exercise  gives  the  glow  of  health.  The  joy  of  "our 
manhood's  prime  vigor  "  is  not  of  the  muscles  only. 


Good  Reading,  Better  Living    87 

If  John  Smith  has  a  notably  good  native  men- 
tality, he  can  impair  its  fineness  and  relax  its  fibre 
by  reading  at  random  and  without  critical  alert- 
ness. If  his  mentality  is  poor,  he  can  improve  it 
by  reading  with  wise  discrimination  and  in  a 
receptive  but  questioning  mood. 

John  Smith  is  America. 

Feeding  America's  Mind 

Compared  with  Europe  in  its  petulant  advanced 
age,  America  is  adolescent,  and  flighty  at  times. 
In  the  matter  of  reading,  it  is  ruled  by  whim  and 
the  fashion  of  the  moment  rather  than  by  con- 
sidered judgment  and  fixed  principles.  Like  the 
youth  at  the  outset  of  life's  journey,  it  is  bewildered 
by  the  multiplicity  of  highways.  It  is  also  in- 
clined to  repose  too  ready  a  faith  in  the  roadside 
signs;  and,  when  the  signs  do  not  agree,  the  one 
with  the  biggest,  blackest  letters  gains  its  credence. 
America  hitches  its  wagon  to  the  star  advertiser. 

Our  national  taste  in  reading  may  be  somewhat 
childishly  crude,  but  it  is  wholesome.  Perhaps 
we  suffer  by  the  fact  that  our  very  large  and 
promiscuous  reading  public  is  compared  with  a 


88  Books  and  Folks 

smaller  and  more  select  one  in  other  countries. 
We  are  not  pessimists  or  fatalists.  We  are  pep- 
timists,  and  architects  of  fate.  In  science  we 
are  practical;  in  philosophy,  empiric;  in  oratory, 
idealistic;  and  in  everj'thing,  sentimental — soft 
inside,  like  an  oyster. 

Our  books  must  be  "readable"  more  than  au- 
thentic; our  reviews  of  books,  not  professedly 
critical.  We  do  not  insist  on  readableness  to  the 
exclusion  of  authenticity;  but  if  a  choice  must  be 
made,  we  choose  the  path  of  least  resistance.  We 
can  assimilate  goodly  doses  of  true  criticism, 
analytic  and  synthetic,  if  only  they  be  admin- 
istered in  pellets  not  merely  sugar-coated  but 
transformingly  disguised. 

Like  the  folks  with  an  excess  of  fruit  who  eat 
what  they  can,  and  what  they  can't  eat  they  can, 
we  read  whatever  we  like  of  whatever  comes  along. 
But  this  blithe  assurance  of  free  election  is  rather 
self-deceptive,  for  we  are  ruled  by  herd-impulses 
more  completely  than  we  know  or  would  admit. 
Subject  to  varying  degrees  of  sensibility  to  external 
influence,  we  fix  our  own  mental  regimen ;  and  thus 
there  is  reading  k  la  carte  and  reading  table  d'  h6te. 


Good  Reading,  Better  Living    89 

Not  many  of  us  compose  our  own  menus.  Do  you 
nourish  yourself,  intellectually,  quick-lunch  fash- 
ion, or  do  you  enjoy  the  soundly  simple  family 
fare? 

Books  and  Fire  Engines 

Publishers'  publicity  men  scold  us  because  we 
give  Her  a  box  of  candy  instead  of  a  book;  or 
because  we  object  to  paying  two  dollars  for  a  book 
but  improtestingly  pay  three,  or  perhaps  five,  for  a 
theatre  ticket.  They  sweetly  sound  the  praises 
of  More  Books  in  the  Home  and,  with  admirable 
disingenuousness,  beseech  us  to  Buy  a  Book  a 
Week.  They  organize  expensive  advertising  cam- 
paigns, that  reach  perhaps  one  per  cent  of  our 
population,  and  leave  ninety  per  cent  of  that  one 
per  cent  unmoved.  Perhaps  their  praiseworthy 
efforts  would  succeed  better  if  the  campaigners 
took  a  hint  from  Ben  Franklin.  Dr.  Franklin,  so 
the  story  goes,  was  waited  upon  by  a  committee  of 
Philadelphians  representing  both  sides  in  a  con- 
troversy over  the  color  in  which  the  city's  first  fire 
engine  should  be  painted.  He  listened  to  the  Reds 
and  the  Blues ;  then,  being  himself  distinctly  Red  in 


90  Books  and  Folks 

this  issue,  he  said:  "Paint  it  any  color — any  color 
but  red."  And  of  course  they  went  straightway 
and  bought  red  paint.  And  ever  since,  fire  en- 
gines have  been  red,  as  Dr.  Franklin  wished  them 
to  be.  If  the  publishers  wish  (as,  quite  naturally, 
they  do)  books  to  be  read 

We  are  great  people,  we  are  the  people!  We 
want  what  we  want  when  we  want  it,  and  no  power 
in  the  universe  can  make  us  take  what-we-don't- 
want  at  any  time,  or  what-we-may-want-some- 
other-time  now.  The  important  thing,  if  our 
reading  habits  are  to  be  improved,  is  to  find  a 
way  to  make  America  want  what  is  really  best 
for  it. 

We  are  not  tolerant  of  pedantic  profundities. 
No  demand  exists,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  any 
demand  could  be  created,  for  scientific  formulas 
by  which  our  reading  might  be  regulated.  And 
yet,  it  must  not  be  thought  that  we  are  wholly 
frivolous  because  we  are  light  hearted;  or  hope- 
lessly superficial  because  we  practice  scorn  of  any 
logic  that  denies  our  natural  impulses ;  or  lacking 
in  desire  to  make  our  reading  more  fruitful — if  it 
can  be  done  comfortably. 


Good  Reading,  Better  Living    91 

A  Bridge  of  Books 

A  careful  calculation  leads  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  are  enough  books  in  the  world  to  build, 
if  they  could  be  petrified,  a  dyke  straight  across  the 
Atlantic,  resting  flat  on  the  ocean  bed  and  pro- 
jecting 57.3  feet  above  water  level,  1319.7  feet 
wide  at  the  base,  and  1 189.6  at  the  top — with 
enough  volumes  left  over  to  give  each  traveller  on 
the  Transatlantic  Rapid  Transit  line,  for  which  it 
could  supply  a  roadbed,  three  volumes  with  which 
to  amuse  himself  on  the  crossing.  (This  calcula- 
tion makes  no  allowance  for  books  printed  while  it 
is  being  worked  out.  One  publishing  house  an- 
nounced, in  the  Fall  season  of  1920,  that  it  was 
making  24,000  volumes  a  day.) 

The  impressiveness  of  this  calculation  is  some- 
what reduced  by  the  fact  that  the  Literary  Engineer 
has  planned  for  several  large  under- water  openings 
in  the  dyke,  for  the  convenience  of  submarine 
traffic.  Still,  it  is  sufficiently  impressive  to  give 
solid  support  to  the  statement  that  today  the 
reader's  problem  is  Selection. 

The  only  ways  in  which  the  problem  can  be 
avoided  are,  first,  to  read  nothing;  and,  second, 


92  Books  and  Folks 

to  read  everything,  or  as  much  of  that  which 
comes  into  your  way  as  time  permits  and  inclina- 
tion commends.  The  first,  to  read  nothing,  is 
the  romantic  solution ;  who  can  achieve  it  ?  The 
second,  to  read  haphazard,  is  a  discreditable 
evasion. 

At  least  as  long  as  since  the  beginning  of  this 
century — since  1890,  it  might  be  more  exact  to 
say — that  has  been  the  problem.  Quite  per- 
ceptibly, in  trying  to  fix  a  decade-date  the  idea  is 
to  separate  this  time  from  that  when  choice  had 
to  be  made  only  between  one  subject  and  another, 
and  choice  within  the  separate  territories  was,  for 
the  Average  Reader,  simple  and  easy  because  of 
the  more  or  less  imdisputed  leadership  of  one  or 
two  books.  There  might  be  one  or  two  acknow- 
ledged Authorities,  for  the  Serious  Student,  and  a 
small  number  of  admittedly  respectable  Popular 
Treatments.  But  there  was  nothing  Hke  the 
present-day  vexatious  multiplicity  of  essays  on 
every  conceivable  subject,  down  to  its  last  minute 
ramifications.  Probably  in  the  'Nineties  the 
whole  output  of  a  year,  in  all  sorts,  was  not  much 
greater  than  that,  in  one  of  the  'Twenties,  in  any 


Good  Reading,  Better  Living    93 

one  department  of  publication:  history  and  biog- 
raphy, science,  art,  travel  and  discovery,  philo- 
sophy, religion,  politics  or  public  affairs,  belles 
lettres,  criticism,  business  "literature,"  poetry, 
fiction.  Who  is  the  Spencer,  who  the  Darwin,  of 
this  day  and  generation?  Where  does  Authority 
dwell? 

Joys  and  Sorrows  of  the  Bookseller 

Imagine  yourself  about  to  start  a  bookstore. 
You  have  so  much  money  to  invest,  so  many  obli- 
gations to  be  met.  So  much  of  your  funds  can  be 
spent  upon  stocking  it;  so  much  must  be  held  in 
reserve  for  rent  and  the  various  items  of  overhead. 
In  order  to  make  your  store  a  self -perpetuating 
enterprise,  earning  a  living  for  you  and  producing 
a  profit  for  its  own  support  and  expansion,  you 
must  offer  for  sale  not  what  the  public  ought  to 
have,  but  what  the  public  will  buy.  Your  books 
are  not  literature  now;  they  are  Merchandise. 
Your  own  personal  preferences  for  one  volume  or 
another,  one  author  or  another,  must  be  sub- 
ordinated to  an  objective  sense  of  the  prevailing 
preferences  among  the  members  of  the  community 


94  Books  and  Folks 

you  are  to  serve.  Every  "plug,"  as  the  book- 
sellers call  the  books  for  which  there  is  no  demand, 
is  a  loss  to  you.  It  may  be  a  volume  you  cherish, 
one  that  has  given  you  pleasure,  happiness,  in- 
spiration; but  if  the  public  rejects  it,  you  cannot 
afford  to  give  it  shelf-room  in  your  store.  It 
would  occupy  space  through  which  might  pass  a 
procession  of  books  that  you  would  describe 
as  Marketable  Trash. 

You  may,  to  be  sure,  do  some  missionary  work, 
and  direct  vacillating  customers  to  the  volume 
that  has  gained  your  own  favor.  But  missionary 
work  is  no  part  of  Business !  The  customer  may 
possibly  endorse  your  estimate,  and  come  back; 
but  if  the  book  disappoints  him,  he  will  not  again 
permit  you  to  direct  his  investment.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  has  a  fondness  for  a  class  of  books 
that  you  despise,  and  handle  with  positive  re- 
pugnance, it  becomes  your  duty  to  the  Store  as  a 
Going  Enterprise  to  encourage  your  customer  in 
his  seeming  folly,  and  sell  him  all  the  trash  he  is 
willing  to  pay  for.  If  you  are  a  philosopher  of 
easy  temper,  you  may  console  yourself  with  the 
reflection  that  he  would  buy  the  stuff  elsewhere 


Good  Reading,  Better  Living    95 

if  you  refused  to  dispense  it.  Possibly  you  can 
contrive,  without  awaking  suspicion  in  his  mind, 
to  place  better  books  in  his  way  and  cultivate  in 
him  that  taste  for  Good  Reading  which  you 
fondly  hoped  it  might  be  your  privilege  to 
disseminate. 

Your  bookstore  must  suit  with  the  location  in 
which  you  have  settled  it.  A  bookstore  at  the 
comer  of  Broad  and  Main  is  one  thing,  and  one  in 
an  expensive  apartment  neighborhood  is  another 
thing.  The  shop  on  the  Avenue  has  different 
problems  from  those  of  the  store  in  a  side-street. 
But  a  successful  bookstore  is  pretty  likely  to  be 
settled  where  many  people  pass;  and  where  there 
are  many  people  there  are  many  demands.  It 
may  be  supposed  that  you  are  serving  not  an 
Exclusive  Clientele  but  a  typical  section  of  the 
General  Public.  Then  it  follows  that  you  will 
have  to  try  to  meet  the  Popular  Taste  in 
Literature.  The  Best  Sellers  must  be  shown 
prominently.  Popular  Juveniles  will  rival  them 
in  the  requirement  and  the  reward  of  display. 
Gift  Books  and  Business  Books  will  press  them 
close.     Bio>;raphy,  Politics,  and  Public  Affairs  will 


96  Books  and  Folks 

perhaps  constitute  a  division  next  in  importance. 
Possibly  you  can  cheer  yourself  with  the  assurance 
that  good  sound  fiction  and  the  English  Classics 
will  rank  next.  But  how  much  Science,  how  much 
Religion  can  you  sell?  Will  it  outrank  the  books 
of  travel?  How  should  you  balance  your  stock 
of  Standard  Poets  and  the  Moderns?  What  can 
you  do  with  History,  Belles  Lettres,  Philosophy, 
Art,  Criticism?  If  you  have  to  choose  between 
these  and  How-to-Live-Long  books,  or  books  of 
Etiquette,  or  Garden  Books  it  will  be  well  for  you 
to  remember  that  Macaulay  and  perhaps  even 
Lamb  and  Shakespeare  are  more  admired  than 
read.  Plato  is  dead ;  Einstein  is  alive.  Which 
shall  you  "carry"? 

But  in  a  Library / 

Now,  suppose  you  have  put  in  ten  good  years  as 
a  bookseller  and — the  booksellers  would  smile 
sourly  at  this! — that  you  have  Made  a  Fortime, 
a  very  whopper  of  a  fortune ;  and  you  are  going  to 
give  the  public  a  Library.  Without  elaborating 
the  comparison,  it  is  clear  that  now  your  selection 
of  books  will  be  quite  different  from  that  which 


Good  Reading,  Better  Living    97 

brought  you  success  as  a  merchandizer  of  books. 
You  will  put  the  best  modern  fiction  and ' '  classics  " 
at  the  top  of  the  list,  will  you  not?  And  Belles 
Lettres  very  near  the  top,  with  Best  Sellers  some- 
where near  the  bottom?  You  will  dare  give  Art 
Books  and  Essays  precedence  over  Business  Books, 
and  Philosophy  will  enjoy  a  much  higher  per- 
centage than  Modern  Poetry.  You  will  reverse 
the  former  proportions,  and  use  a  very  limited 
amount  of  Popular  Reading  as  an  inducement  for 
the  laggard  on  the  Path  of  Culture,  instead  of  a 
little  of  the  Tried  and  True  as  a  possible  beguiler 
of  the  confirmed  Light  Reader. 

How  different  from  either  the  bookstore  or  the 
Model  Library  would  be  the  home  library  we 
would  wish  to  be  yours !  Are  there  so  many  as  a 
thousand  books  good  enough  for  it?  You  might 
have  a  show  library,  with  rare  First  Editions,  and 
bindings  too  fine  for  familiar  use;  but  now  we 
are  talking  about  your  own  personal,  private  Book 
Den.  Here  you  would  have  books  that  you  had 
dug  up,  or  hunted  down,  in  dusty  old  second-hand 
shops.  They  are  the  books  you  prize  for  the  con- 
tent, not  the  cover.    So  far  from  esteeming  them 


98  Books  and  Folks 

for  rarity,  you  would  love  them  for  old  associa- 
tion's sake;  association  of  your  own,  or  the 
shadowy  association  of  earlier  owners,  whose 
personalities  may  be  immortalized  in  mar- 
ginal notes,  or  in  brown  stains  of  the  Arabian 
sirops  of  long-ago  breakfasts.  The  cheaper,  the 
dearer ! 

Books  and  Folks 

A  symposium  on  the  topic  How  I  Choose  My 
Books  would  be  interesting.  It  should  represent 
every  class  and  condition  of  mankind:  the  mis- 
tress and  the  maid,  the  clerk  and  the  capitalist; 
every  trade  and  profession,  prizefighters  and 
preachers,  soldiers  and  salesmen,  miners  and  mil- 
lionaires, carpenters  and  college  professors;  the 
rich  and  the  poor,  the  proud  and  the  humble; 
debutantes  and  old  maids,  bachelors  and  fathers 
of  families,  the  prince  and  the  pauper,  the  judge 
and  the  jailbird,  the  farmer  and  the  financier ;  the 
Big  Burg,  the  Small  Town,  the  Country  Cross- 
roads and  the  Backwoods.  Do  you  read  anything 
that  happens  to  be  handy?  Do  you  "borrow" 
books ;  in  which  property  rights  exist  no  more  than 


Good  Reading,  Better  Living    99 

in  matches  and  umbrellas?  Do  you  ask  the  li- 
brarian's advice?  Do  you  consult  the  bookseller? 
Or  do  you  read  Reviews  ?  Particulariy,  how  often 
do  you  buy  (or  borrow)  a  book  because  of  its 
advertising?  Such  a  symposium  would  be  read,  in 
the  editorial  and  sales  departments  of  the  publish- 
ing houses,  At  a  Single  Sitting. 

Not  long  ago  a  friend  of  mine  who  sits  at  a  desk 
in  a  New  York  publisher's  office  and  plots  new 
ways  to  find  a  market  for  books  wrote  me  a  letter 
that  sketched  attractively  a  possibly  helpful  de- 
vice for  the  "placing"  of  books.  Of  course  the 
plan  was  presented  as  a  seUing  scheme,  but 
as  it  involves  a  Service  for  the  Guidance  of 
Readers,  it  consorts  with  the  matter  of  present 
discussion. 

The  great  weakness  of  the  publishing  business  to- 
day lies  in  distribution  methods.  The  publisher's 
life  depends  upon  the  bookstore,  and  under  present 
conditions  the  bookstore's  life  depends  upon  the  pub- 
lisher's advertising.  But  the  publishers'  profits  are 
so  small  that  they  cannot  afford  to  advertise  all  of 
their  titles  to  the  extent  of  creating  a  national  de- 
mand for  their  goods.  They  find  themselves,  there- 
fore, compelled  to  make  a  choice  between   giving 


100  Books  and  Folks 

one  or  two  of  their  titles  national  publicity  at  the 
expense  of  the  balance  of  their  list  and  giving  a  little 
publicity  here  and  there  to  all  of  them  at  the  expense 
of  their  entire  list. 

My  theory  is  this:  Every  book  that  has  been  ac- 
cepted for  publication  has  a  market.  The  pub- 
lisher's judgment,  and  his  investment,  stand  behind 
it.  But  it  is  a  mistake  to  advertise  all  the  books 
before  the  same  audience.  Our  book  .  .  .,  was 
advertised  in  the  standard  book  mediums.  At  the 
end  of  three  months  we  had  sold  a  few  hundred  copies. 
One  day  a  fellow  came  into  the  office  and  said:  "  If  I 
will  guarantee  to  sell  one  hundred  copies  of  this  book, 
will  you  make  up  for  me  a  circular  and  give  me  the 
dealer's  discount?"  We  agreed.  He  gave  me  copy 
for  the  circular,  and  we  made  7000  of  them.  At  the 
end  of  three  weeks  he  turned  in  an  order  for  105  copies 
of  the  book.  It  is  a  scientific  work,  and  retails  at 
$6.  The  problem  was,  to  go  straight  to  the  people 
who  would  be  interested  in  that  book  at  that 
price. 

That  set  me  thinking.  Now,  I  want  to  organize  an 
agency  to  act  as  a  purchasing  agent  for  people  who 
want  books,  and  would  be  willing  to  pay  for  help  in 
selecting.  The  agency  would  compile  classified  lists 
of  bookbuyers.  It  would  then  supply  a  service  to 
the  persons  on  the  lists.  This  service  would  consist 
of  mailing,  periodically,  a  letter  telling  about  the 
latest  and  the  best  books  of  the  kind  in  which  the 
receiver  of  the  letter  is  especially  interested. 


Good  Reading,  Better  Living  loi 

Each  in  his  own  way,  reader,  author,  pubHsher 
and  bookseller  are  all  endeavoring  to  contribute 
to  the  realization  of  one  ideal,  the  achievement 
of  Better  Living  through  the  agency  of  Books. 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


A  LITTLE  WEEDING  IN 
THE  GARDEN  OF  BOOKS 


103 


CHAPTER  VII 

A  LITTLE  WEEDING   IN   THE 
GARDEN  OF  BOOKS 

Each  individual  life  may  be  said  to  consist  of 
consumption  of  goods  and  services,  supported  by 
activity  in  some  form  of  production  of  goods  or 
services  for  other  folks  to  consume.  Production 
translates  into  income :  consumption  means  outgo. 
Americans  are  apt  to  spend  less  grimly,  more  joy- 
ously than  they  earn.  Give  us  the  luxuries,  and 
we  can  dispense  with  the  necessaries.  The  aver- 
age person  thinks  of  books  as  luxuries,  and  treats 
them  as  necessaries  —  cheerfully  doing  without 
them,  or  taking  such  as  chance  throws  in  his  way. 

For  all  the  thrift  campaigns,  how  many  in- 
dividuals are  there  who  govern  their  domestic 
economy  by  the  budget  system?  In  most  homes, 
it  can  probably  be  asserted  with  a  satisfactory 
degree  of  accuracy,  financial  history  is  a  succession 

105 


io6  Books  and  Folks 

of  emergencies  and  tight  pinches.  How  many 
domestic  managers  set  aside  a  reserve  for  depre- 
ciation? The  sceptic  impHcation  may  be  imjust. 
There  may  be,  in  the  multitude  of  going  con- 
cerns subsidiary  to  the  Great  American  Home, 
many  successful  practising  Efficiency  Engineers. 
Perhaps  System  rules  in  as  many  households  as 
disorderly  Opportunism,  but  most  of  one's  friends 
appear  to  be,  like  one's  self,  content  to  regard 
the  good  and  the  evil  of  each  day  as  sufficient 
thereunto. 

The  best  laid  plans  persist  in  going  wrong. 
Virtuous  resolves,  chilly  as  snow,  melt  like  snow 
in  the  sunshine  when  they  are  exposed  to  the  warm- 
ing influence  of  social  pleasures.  Anyone  can 
make,  and  most  persons  can  keep  within,  a  budgef 
appropriation  for  church  and  charity ;  but  it  is  not 
so  easy  to  maintain  a  self-imposed  restriction  on 
Food  and  Clothing,  Rent  and  Upkeep,  Amuse- 
ments and  Self-Improvement.  Is  it  any  wonder, 
when  many  a  manager  in  Business,  giving  his  time, 
attention  and  skill  to  the  making  of  a  budget  and 
measuring  every  expenditure  against  it,  finds  that 
attractive   opportunities  have   betrayed  him  in- 


A  Little  Weeding  107 

to  indiscreet  outlays,  so  that  he  must  clip  his 
scheduled  expenditures  to  make  up  ?  The  vexing 
thing  is  that  so  many  of  the  outlays  would  not 
be  indiscreet  at  all  were  it  not  for  the  preliminary 
imposition  of  a  Limit ! 

A  Literary  Budget 

How  can  Plain  Folks  be  expected  to  do  better 
with  their  private  expenditures?  And  they  must 
do  better  if  the  publishers  are  to  make  a  success  of 
their  Buy  a  Book  a  Week  campaign.  This  cam- 
paign grips  the  problem  by  the  wrong  handle.  It 
works  more  obviously  for  the  bookseller  than  for 
the  bookbuyer.  Books  on  the  gentle  art  of  adver- 
tising tell  about  a  varnish  manufacturer  who 
advertised  quick  drying  as  the  principal  merit  of 
his  product.  He  had  spent  much  time,  money  and 
thought  in  producing  a  varnish  that  would  dry  as 
fast  as  it  was  applied ;  and  he  had  scored  a  chemical 
triumph  in  achieving  his  aim.  But  this  feat  of 
science  failed  to  interest  the  housewives,  whose 
trade  in  small  orders  constitutes  the  bulk  of  the 
business.  The  doctors  of  advertising,  consulting 
specialists,  were  called  in  and  shown  through  the 


io8  Books  and  Folks 

factory.  Among  the  minor  tests  to  which  the 
product  was  subjected  was  Trial  by  Hot  Water; 
from  it  the  glossy  surface  emerged  unscathed,  un- 
marred.  "There,"  said  the  advertising  men,  "is 
your  Selling  Point.  You  need  go  no  further. 
Advertise  that,  and  your  line  will  be  a  winner." 
And  their  logic  was  of  better  quality  than  their 
diction. 

Advertising  experts  urge  assumption  of  the 
"you"  attitude.  We  this,  and  we  that,  leaves 
the  public  cold.  It  may  be  poHtely  interested  in 
the  seller's  ideas  and  beneficent  purposes ;  but  not 
to  the  buying  point.  Self-interest  is  the  universal 
ultimate  motive;  it  has  kept  the  world  alive  and 
moving.  Even  the  Great  Benefactors  are  ani- 
mated by  desire  to  be  the  ones  of  all  men  through 
whose  agency  heaHng  enterprises  are  brought  to 
successful  ends.     And  it  is  good ! 

Individtials  Make  the  Market 

All  this  comes  to  bear  upon  the  reading  prob- 
lems just  as  soon  as  publishers  undertake,  as  they 
have  imdertaken,  a  Campaign  of  Education .  They 
are  trying  to  organize  the  Book  Business  as  the 


A  Little  Weeding  109 

railroad  business,  or  the  dry  goods  business,  or  the 
meat  business  is  organized.  Is  there,  or  is  there 
not,  a  decisive  difference  between,  say,  hardware 
or  shoes,  and  books  ? 

The  bulk  of  the  railroads'  business  comes  from 
trade,  shipment  of  commodities,  raw  materials 
and  finished  goods,  from  the  place  of  production 
to  the  centers  of  distribution.  A  business  house 
needs,  year  by  year,  a  fairly  calculable  quantity  of 
transportation,  freight  or  express.  It  can  tell 
pretty  closely  what  its  needs  will  be  a  year  in 
advance,  and  can  fix  that  item  in  its  budget  with 
satisfactory  exactness.  But  the  individual  does 
not  know  what  his  contribution  to  the  passenger 
traffic  department  is  likely  to  be.  So  much  travel- 
ling between  house  and  office,  and  an  approxi- 
mately estimable  mileage  for  the  family  vacation ; 
and  after  that,  it  is  a  matter  of  emergency  and 
chance.  And  yet,  from  the  railroad  man's  point 
of  view,  these  individually  indeterminable  uses  of 
transportation  facilities  bulk  into  a  total  usage  by 
the  Public  which  he  can  forecast  quite  accurately. 
Perhaps  the  railroad  situation  is  comparable  to 
that  of  the  life  insurance  companies.     An  indi- 


no  Books  and  Folks 

vidual  with  thirty  years'  "expectation  of  life" 
may  die  tomorrow,  and  a  seemingly  unsafe  "risk" 
may  live  to  pay  premiums  through  another  score 
of  years;  but  the  Mortality  Tables,  logarithmic 
analyses  of  experience,  furnish  a  sufficiently  stable 
footing  to  justify  huge  investments  and  furnish 
forth  noble  profits. 

A  few  hundred  yards  from  my  house  is  the  trol- 
ley station.  The  line  nms  from  Westfield  on  one 
railroad  to  Jamestown  on  another.  It  is  only  a 
twenty-seven  mile  run.  Between  the  termini  are 
a  few  small  towns,  through  which  passes  the  traffic 
of  a  farming  region.  Some  of  the  townsfolk  travel 
up  and  down  the  line  quite  regularly.  Most  of 
us  use  it  now  and  then,  as  occasion  arises  and  with- 
out plan  or  system.  Why  is  it  that  the  traffic  in 
any  month,  perhaps  in  any  week,  can  be  so  defi- 
nitely estimated  in  advance  that  the  service  is 
always  fairly  adequate?  What  is  to  prevent  it 
happening  on  one  day  that  no  one  will  want  to 
move,  while  on  the  next  every  able-bodied  man, 
woman,  and  child  in  the  whole  region  will  be  on 
the  go?  And  at  our  station,  Chautauqua,  with 
four  or  five  hundred  Souls  in  its  Permanent  Popu- 


A  Little  Weeding  m 

lation,  some  thirty  to  forty  thousand  passengers 
alight  in  the  two  Assembly  months,  July  and 
August.  (The  other  twenty  to  thirty  thousand 
come  by  boat  or  automobile.)  During  the  two 
months  in  which  they  make  Chautauqua  their 
headquarters  all  or  part  of  the  time,  they  travel 
back  and  forth  considerabl3^  taking  trips  to  Hogs- 
back,  Panama  Rocks,  Niagara  Falls,  and  other 
nearby  Places  of  Interest.  An  irregular  require- 
ment, one  would  think ;  and  yet  the  cars  handle  the 
traffic  steadily  and  comfortably. 

Is  there  an  average  like  that  for  the  makers  and 
sellers  of  books  to  rely  upon?  While  the  Smiths 
and  Joneses  and  the  Robinsons  are  more  or  less 
haphazard  readers,  do  their  requirements,  as  felt 
in  the  bookstores,  work  out  to  a  comfortably  con- 
stant quantity  for  the  bookseller?  Can  books  be 
made  and  marketed  like  shoes  and  saws,  furniture 
and  face  powder,  boats  and  bottles,  groceries  and 
gewgaws  ? 

A  New  York  publisher  "starts"  a  book  by 
advertising  it  in  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia 
and  Chicago.  Then  he  relies  on  the  Book  Supple- 
ments and  the  Critical  Reviews,  and  above  all 


tt2  Books  and  Folks 

Word-of-Mouth  advertising:  "Have  you  read 
such  and  such  a  book,  by  So-and-so?  It's  great! 
You  want  to  read  it!"  And  out  go  the  salesmen 
to  the  stores,  and  the  Buyers  buy,  or  don't  buy, 
according  to  their  snap  judgment  on  subject,  title, 
author;  with  some  allowance  for  the  publishers' 
prestige,  and  a  keen  awareness  of  what  has  been 
going  across  the  counters,  scoring  the  best  Turn- 
over, and  what  Plugs  still  clutter  the  shelves  or 
storeroom  awaiting  their  destiny  as  Bargain 
Counter  sacrifices.  Librarians,  too,  order  care- 
fully; generally  with  a  timid  or  at  least  careful 
compromise  between  conscience  and  commercial 
instinct. 

Are  Publishers  Philanthropists? 

The  men  who  found  and  build  great  publishing 
enterprises  are  men  who  combine  with  much  prac- 
tical shrewdness  a  sound  sense  of  what  is  good  and 
desirable  in  books.  The  men  who  rise  from  lowlier 
positions  to  the  status  of  Sales  Manager  have  not 
always  or  even  often,  as  it  seems  to  an  unimpas- 
sioned  observer,  Hterary  taste — or  great  desire 
for  it — or  any  knowledge  of  books  but  the  very 


A  Little  Weeding  113 

useful  and  profitable  one  that  enables  them  to  dis- 
tribute books,  with  the  minimum  of  expense, 
among  places  where  they  will  secure  the  maximum 
return  upon  the  publisher's  investment. 

Let  it  be  very  distinctly  understood  that  this 
is  not  a  protest  against  Literary  Commercialism ! 
Whatever  is  may  be  either  right  or  wrong.  This 
chapter  is  only  an  exploration  of  the  Book  World 
from  the  Reading  Person's  point  of  view;  not, 
necessarily,  in  his  interest.  Unquestionably  trade 
methods  in  book  production  and  distribution  have 
done  much  to  spread  knowlege  and  to  make  life 
brighter  and  happier.  You  cannot  limit  the  pub- 
lisher's enterprise  to  the  territory  of  Philanthropy. 
Competition  among  publishers  as  elsewhere  is 
good,  and  healthful. 

And  yet  it  will  not  do  to  dismiss  the  question 
with  the  reflection  that  the  fit  will  survive  and  the 
unfit  perish.  What  a  traffic  was  the  imholy  one 
in  alcoholic  liquors !  How  it  grew  and  swelled  on 
the  proceeds  of  purveyance  to  the  foolish  of  what 
was  bad  for  them,  until  finally  its  own  greed  choked 
it  to  death !  Far,  immeasurably  far  be  it  from  us, 
as  country  editors  still  say,  to  liken  the  Book  Busi- 
t 


114  Books  and  Folks 

ness  to  the  Booze  Business;  but  even  a  preacher 
can  learn  a  lesson  of  temperance  from  the  history 
of  the  Eighteenth  Amendment.  And — ^there  has 
been  a  spree  of  publishing ! 

Commerce  Flavored  with  Ideals 

The  publishers  are  men  of  ideals.  Let  them 
ponder  this  query :  May  it  not  be  that  the  time  has 
come  when  a  bewildered  pubHc  would  call  them 
blessed  if  they,  instead  of  searching  out  the  "popu- 
lar" authors — in  fiction,  of  course,  very  specially 
— did  a  little  weeding  in  the  garden,  and  left  the 
ephemeral  writers  to  ephemeral  "mediums,"  the 
magazine?  This  is  a  great  and  wonderful  age; 
there  is  no  reason  today  to  envy  the  Elizabethans 
and  the  Age  of  Discovery.  Great  things  are 
toward,  and  mankind  is  awake.  But,  here  in 
America,  at  least,  it  can  be  said  without  petu- 
lance that  we  incur  the  dangers  of  superficiality, 
of  insouciance,  of  extravagance  and  recklessness. 
Many  splendid  books  are  issuing  from  the  presses, 
along  with  tons  of  rubbish.  But  even  in  our  best 
books  is  there  not  too  often  a  slackness,  heedless- 
ness, or  unconsciousness  of  what  we  vaguely  call 


A  Little  Weeding  "S 

Style?  Good  English  is  a  precious  thing,  and 
should  be  preserved.  It  stands  for,  or  at  least  con- 
sorts with,  clear  thinking  and  sound  living.  The 
plea  is  not  for  formalism,  which  quite  commonly 
connotes  sterility.  It  is  for  more  care  in  the  com- 
position of  books  that  are  meant  to  mould  Life; 
more  respect  for  the  Art  of  Speech,  as  separated 
from  the  mere  Power  of  Communication. 

Is  it  unfair  to  shift  a  part  of  the  burden  of  re- 
sponsibility from  the  Readers  who  have  borne 
it  so  long  and  uncomplainingly,  and  exhort  the 
publishers  to  assume  a  share  of  the  load  by  per- 
mitting the  Public  to  buy  more  copies  of  fewer 
books?  Incidentally  let  us  beg  them  to  revive 
the  noble  old  Lost  Profession  of  Proofreading — ^and 
to  insist  that  authors  shall  not  say  "claim"  when 
they  mean  "assert,"  "pretend,"  "postulate," 
"declare,"  "affirm,"  "imply,"  and  anything  but 
"claim." 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


"STYLE" 


117 


CHAPTER  VIII 

"style" 

The  word  "work"  is  definable  in  two  ways:  as 
the  expenditure  of  effort,  and  as  the  accomplish- 
ment of  results  by  expenditure  of  effort.  So,  too, 
"style"  in  writing  may  be  doubly  defined:  as  the 
manner  of  the  best  convention,  and  as  the  man- 
ner dictated  by  the  writer's  personality.  In  the 
first  instance,  it  is  a  matter  of  literary  science,  a 
rule  for  all ;  in  the  second,  of  art,  strictly  individual. 
The  second  is  the  greater. 

What  the  lexicographers  say,  I  do  not  know;  and 
I  shall  carefully  avoid  knowing,  at  least  until  this 
writing  has  been  turned  into  printing  and  it  is  too 
late  to  remodel  my  own  ideas  to  conform  with 
Authority.  To  my  way  of  thinking  style  as  mere 
modishness  is  poor  stuff.  Style,  the  science  of 
good  writing,  is  important,  but  a  dull  thing.  Style 
as  the  reflection  of  the  writer's  true  personality, 

119 


120  Books  and  Folks 

the  measure  of  sincerity,  is  absorbingly  worth 
while. 

Let  the  Tailor  Look  to  His  Own  Clothes  ! 

One  of  my  first  experiences  in  the  New  York 
newspaper  office  where  I  spent  fourteen  years 
drove  home  in  my  mind  the  meaning  and  value  of 
Personal  Style.  There  came  to  my  desk,  with 
other  copy  to  be  passed  upon,  a  letter  from  an 
engineer  in  Cuba.  I  read  it,  called  it  good,  gave 
it  headlines,  "fixed  it  up,"  and  sent  it  to  the  com- 
posing room.  In  due  course  of  time  it  came,  in 
proof,  to  the  Chief's  desk.  He  brought  the  proof 
to  me.  "I  glanced  at  this  in  the  copy,"  he  said, 
"and  thought  it  looked  promising.  But  it  doesn't 
seem  worth  printing  after  all." 

One  of  the  editorial  writers,  who  had  been  keep- 
ing an  eye  on  me,  the  neophyte,  spoke  up.  "  Oh, ' ' 
he  said,  "it's  good  stuff — or  was,  at  least,  until  our 
young  friend  put  it  all  into  coUege  EngHsh!" 

Yes;  I  had  "corrected"  it — corrected  the  life  out 
of  it.  The  letter  as  written  was  in  clean,  strong 
idiom;  it  "said  something."  After  my  'prentice 
hand  had  "edited"  it,  there  was  nothing  left  but 


"Style"  121 

words;  the  engineer  was  no  longer  there,  and 
the  tang  of  his  homely  speech  had  gone  with 
him.  It  was  then  my  task  to  take  off  the  cap 
and  gown  in  which  I  had  so  carefully  invested  him, 
and  to  put  on  again  his  own  homely,  interesting 
verbal  clothes.  I  was  a  Sartor  Resartus;  deeply 
humiliated,  but  beginning  to  be  educated.  True 
learning  costs ! 

That  engineer  had  a  style,  and  the  yoimg  editor 
innocently  robbed  him  of  it.  He  was  sincere ;  had 
something  to  say,  and  said  it  in  the  one  right  way. 
I  gave,  probably,  polysyllabic  Latinity  to  a  proper- 
ly one-syllabled  bit  of  good  Anglo-Saxon  idiom. 

An  old  rhetoric  book  cites  The  Ancient  Mariner 
as  an  example  of  the  proper  employment  of  Latin 
derivatives;  The  Old  Sailor  is  the  unpoetic  Anglo- 
Saxon  alternative. 

In  a  recent  novel  the  Chief  of  Police  exclaims,  as 
a  dangerous  criminal  is  brought  before  him :  "Take 
his  gun  away ! "  If  he  had  said  *  *  Frisk  him  for  his 
gat"  he  would  have  been  quite  too  colloquial.  If 
he  had  said,  "Deprive  him  of  his  weapon,"  he 
would  have  been  comically  unreal.  The  expres- 
sion actually  used  effects  a  very  satisfactory  com- 


122  Books  and  Folks 

promise  between  uncompromising  realism  and  the 
literary  manner. 

Some  exquisite  writers  have  a  horror  of  homely 
idiom,  and  some  rough-and-ready  writers  shrink 
from  words  of  more  than  two  syllables.  Good 
style  knows  no  such  phobia;  it  uses  the  word 
that  fits,  whether  it  came  to  us  from  remote  British 
antecedents  or  was  lifted  from  the  Arabic,  coined 
in  the  chemist's  laboratory  or  transliterated  from 
Greek:  "camel,"  "gas,"  "electricity." 

Affectation  is  not  style.  Rhetoric  books  teach 
writing-manners ;  the  reading  of  the  best  books  will 
help  the  student  to  an  appreciation  of  Manner. 

Style  is  Not  a  Mystery 

It  is  foolish  for  people  to  say  they  "don't  know 
what  style  is,  and  don't  care  about  it  anjrway." 
They  frequently  do  say  it.  Such  persons  may  often 
be  detected  revelling  in  books  roughly  written, 
though  their  material  is  sound — because  the  book 
pretends  a  reckless  disregard  of  Good  Usage.  And 
they  sometimes  weary  of  a  fundamentally  faulty 
text  which  is  written  with  simulation  of  style :  dis- 
criminating selection  of  words,  careful  modelling 


"Style"  123 

of  phrases,  nice  arrangement  and  impressive 
gesture.  Is  it  not  thus  demonstrated  that  style  is 
composite  of  form  and  substance;  that  manner  and 
matter  are  both  elements  of  its  formula? 

Readers  who  have  no  technical  knowledge  of 
printing  and  binding  are  often  influenced,  imcon- 
sciously  to  themselves,  by  a  good  or  a  poor  selec- 
tion of  body  types  and  headings ;  by  good  or  bad 
make-ready;  by  correct  or  inaccurate  register; 
by  green  or  seasoned  bindings;  by  good  or  bad 
design  on  title-page  and  cover;  by  excellence  or 
its  opposite  in  all  the  numerous  details  in  the  dress 
of  the  volume.  They  may  not  be  able  to  criticise 
expertly  the  halftones,  but  Good  Taste  leads  them 
to  an  accurate  judgment  as  to  the  effectiveness  of 
the  illustrations.  They  may  not  know  what  a 
headband  is,  but  they  know  whether  the  book  opens 
strongly  or  not.  They  may  not  be  able  to  "give 
a  reason, ' '  but  they  can  and  do  render  a  remarkably 
correct  judgment.     They  have  a  Sense  of  Style. 

The  Fate  oj  Literature  in  the  Print  Shop 

Bookmaking  in  the  first  two  years  after  the  war 
was  severely'-  handicapped  by  high  costs  of  labor 


124  Books  and  Folks 

and  materials.  Careful  printing  was  often  spoiled 
by  careless  cutting,  and  volumes  that  were  planned 
in  accordance  with  the  best  standards  were  marred 
by  pages  on  which  the  tjrpe-block  was  askew  or,  as 
printers  say,  out  of  register.  Indifferent  "help" 
in  the  binderies,  assembling  the  signatures,  caused 
duplication  of  some  and  omission  of  others. 
Warpy  covers  were  all  too  common. 

The  publishers  carried  more  of  the  load,  and  left 
less  of  it  for  the  consumers  to  bear,  than  the  ever 
suspicious  public  can  readily  comprehend.  When 
costs  rose  200,  300  per  cent  or  more,  prices  were 
advanced  only  50  to  75  per  cent.  Not  wholly  from 
ideahsm  but  partly  as  a  fruit  of  it  and  partly  be- 
cause the  counsel  of  business  shrewdness  coin- 
cided with  that  of  idealistic  motive,  the  pubHshers 
more  than  other  producers  sacrificed  a  part  of  their 
fair  and  normal  profit.  It  is  not  so  easy  to  "edu- 
cate" the  public  to  high  prices  in  books  as  in 
shoes  or  coal.  There  are  no  substitutes  for  shoes 
and  coal,  but  there  are  substitutes  for  new  books, 
in  the  magazines  or  newspapers.  Perhaps  when 
book  prices  went  up — apparently,  to  stay  up  for 
a  long  period  and  it  may  be  permanently — perhaps 


"Style"  125 

some  readers  were  turned  back  to  the  old,  forgotten 
Classics,  Standard  Books;  perhaps  volumes  long 
neglected  were  taken  from  overlooked  shelves, 
dusted,  and  re-read;  with  what  profit  to  the  read- 
ers, and  what  effect  upon  their  reading-habits 
in  days  to  come,  who  can  say? 

In  view  of  these  facts,  it  seems  harsh  to  repre- 
hend the  makers  of  books  for  a  possibly  unprevent- 
able  letting-down  in  standards  of  manufacture. 
The  result  of  the  letting-down,  however  unavoid- 
able it  may  have  been,  is  regrettable.  A  year  like 
1920  is  bad;  not  so  bad,  perhaps,  for  the  Book 
Business  as  for  the  Book  World.  Because  of  the 
dearness  of  labor  and  materials,  taste  is  cheapened. 
The  critical  fibre  relaxes,  and  buyers'  requirements 
are  slackened.  When  prices  of  paper,  binder's 
board  and  cloth  come  down,  many  book  pur- 
chasers will  look  first  for  lower  book  prices  and 
only  later,  if  at  all,  for  improved  quaHty. 

What  will  happen  to  Style  (mechanical)  in  book- 
making  in  the  next  few  years?  Does  not  specu- 
lation on  this  question  lead  to  repetition  of  the 
question  posed  in  the  preceding  chapter:  why 
not  let  us  buy  more  copies  of  fewer  books,  more 


126  Books  and  Folks 

carefully  and  conscientiously  selected,  and  better 
made? 

Power  is  with  the  buyers.  We  want  in  the 
furniture  of  our  homes,  first,  durability  and 
strength;  then,  good  lines,  "looks."  And,  crudely, 
there  is  no  handsomer  furniture  for  a  home  than 
books.  Shall  we  not  insist  that  they  be  made 
right,  with  regard  for  both  strength  (wearing- 
quality)  and  beauty?  When  the  buying  public 
begins  to  discriminate,  the  manufacturers  will  have 
to  give  heed.  No  publisher  can  put  out  a  hundred 
or  more  "titles"  a  year,  and  make  them  as  our 
books  ought  to  be  made.  Why  not  put  up  the 
ephemeral  books  in  a  more  or  less  ephemeral  form, 
and  let  the  saving  go  into  the  volumes  presumably 
destined  for  a  longer  life?  Why  not  give  us  our 
short-lived  books  frankly  without  (mechanical) 
style,  and  put  Quality  into  the  books  with  which 
we  want  to  live  long  in  the  land  ? 

Every  Man  His  Own  Critic 

When  I  was  a  small  boy,  my  grandfather,  seeing 
me  read  assiduously  the  Bible,  asked  why  I  read 
it.      "I  like  it,"  was  the  answer;  "it's  a  dibby 


^' Style'*  127 

book."  That  was  the  juvenile  slang  of  the  day. 
"Why  do  you  like  it?"  the  old  gentleman  asked. 
"Oh,  I  like  the  way  it  says  things."  Which 
pleased  my  grandfather  hugely. 

A  famous  trainer  of  college  athletes  was  an- 
noyed because  one  of  his  foot-ball  players 
preached  vegetarianism,  too  persuasively,  to  his 
fellow  athletes.  One  day  the  squad,  reporting  for 
a  "blackboard  talk,"  was  confronted  by  this  syllo- 
gistic warning,  lettered  boldly  on  the  board :  "They 
who  eat  beef  are  beefy.  They  who  eat  nuts  are 
nutty."  The  pithy  saying  may  be  adapted  to 
present  purposes;  They  who  read  well- written 
books  will  expand  their  mental  powers;  they  who 
read  poorly  written  books  will  lessen  their  own 
ability  to  think  in  straight  lines  and  to  express 
themselves  clearly. 

The  difference  between  ordinary  books  and 
Literature  reduces  to  terms  of  Style,  or  Person- 
ality. Strictly  utilitarian  writing  is  the  better  for 
some  care  and  skill  in  expression  but  there  can 
be  no  work  of  Literature  which  does  not  add  to 
power  the  qualities  of  beauty  and  grace. 

One  cannot  restrict  himself,  and  there  is  no 


128  Books  and  Folks 

reason  why  he  should  restrict  himself,  to  books  of 
Literary  Quality;  but  what  a  dull  and  stupid  thing 
it  is  for  one  not  to  be  conscious  of  the  presence  or 
absence  of  Quality  in  the  books  he  reads.  A  man 
need  not  be  a  tailor  to  know  whether  his  clothes 
are  good  or  not,  and  why ;  a  cook,  to  tell  whether 
a  dinner  is  rightly  planned  and  served ;  or,  in  the 
classic  figure,  a  hen,  to  judge  an  omelet.  Why 
default,  in  literary  judgment,  to  the  professionally 
literary?  Reserving  as  the  final  factor  your  own 
honest  likes  and  dislikes,  why  not  make  a  point  of 
noticing  whether  what  you  read  is  well  done  or  ill 
done;  whether  the  author  to  whose  hire  you  con- 
tribute has  given  fair  return  for  your  patronage: 
whether  he  deals  in  honest  goods,  or  is  trading  on 
your  ignorance  or  carelessness? 

At  church  you  rebel  inwardly  when  the  sermon 
is  fustian.  At  a  political  meeting  you  refuse  to  be 
won  by  empty  words.  If  a  lecturer  gives  short 
measure  to  fill  the  time  his  audience  places  at  his 
disposal,  the  audience  resents  the  imposition.  One 
who  reads  a  man's  book  ought  to  receive  at  least 
the  compliment  of  conscientious  workmanship. 
And  if  it  is  a  book  presumptively  of  inspiration,  the 


"Style**  129 

reader  is  remiss  in  duty  if  he  does  not  require  care 
and  sincerity  in  the  presentation  of  the  theme. 

Some  writing  is  democratic,  and  some  is  aristo- 
cratic. Some  is  proletarian,  and  some  is  snobbish. 
Any  reader  may  have  occasion  to  pay  attention  to 
any  one  of  these  kinds ;  but  he  owes  it  to  his  own 
self-respect  to  be  quite  aware  which  sort  he  is 
associating  with. 

Author  and  Reader 

I  have  just  read  a  manuscript  for  a  young 
woman.  She  wanted  criticism  before  going  to  a 
publisher  with  her  work.  There  are  little  details 
here  and  there  with  regard  to  which  I  can  offer 
helpful  suggestions;  but  for  me  to  go  further  than 
that  would  be  an  impertinence.  She  has  The 
Spark.  She  speaks  with  the  authentic  voice  of 
literature.  Hers  is  the  precious  instinct  for  The 
Right  Word.  She  has  the  power  to  express  what 
most  of  us  "feel";  to  make  emotion  articulate;  to 
grasp  in  a  mass  of  non-essentials  the  one  vital  fact. 
She  has  the  flashing  phrase,  the  Sense  of  Value 
and  Proportion,  strength  tempered  with  restraint, 
the  gift  of  Color  and  of  Rhythm,  the  delicate 


130  Books  and  Folks 

balance  of  sense  and  sensitiveness  that  mark  and 
place  apart  the  persons  who  by  nature's  right  are 
franchised  in  Creative  Authorship. 

There  are  misfits  in  every  occupation:  misfit 
teachers  and  preachers,  artists  and  artisans,  bene- 
dicts and  bachelors.  Here  in  the  pulpit  stands  a 
man  consecrated  to  the  spiritual  guidance  of 
others — and  whose  temperament  perhaps  as  well 
as  his  physical  powers  marks  him  for  the  smithy  or 
the  mill.  And  here  at  the  workbench  is  one  weary 
of  mechanics,  fit  for  the  saving  of  souls,  beating 
at  the  bars  and  withholding  from  the  world  the 
goods  he  might  purvey,  the  while  he  curses  Life 
for  robbing  him  of  his  soul's  freedom.  Sardonic 
jester,  Life!  Wanton  waster,  mischief-maker, 
tormenter  and  mocker!  Trafficker  in  souls,  med- 
dling, distorting,  destroying;  scornful,  insolent, 
taunting — and  secretly  longing  to  be  conquered ! 

I  am  a  friend  of  the  democratic  in  Literature. 
Many  sorts  of  books  are  needed  in  the  world.  In- 
telligence is  graded  through  a  long  scale.  Better 
for  the  uncultured  to  read  graceless  books  than  to 
read  none  at  all.  Aschenbroedel  should  have  her 
romance,  and  the  Prince  should  be  the  very  Spirit 


"Style"  131 

of  Romance.  PoUyanna  books  do  good  in  the 
world.  Anodyne  has  its  place  in  the  Scheme  of 
Things  in  the  World  of  Print.  There  is  one  sort 
of  reading  for  the  Metropolis,  and  another  for  the 
Provinces;  in  some  respects,  the  taste  of  the 
Provinces  is  more  sound  and  wholesome — and  the 
Metropolis  has  always  a  large  element  of  the 
Transplanted  Provincial.  All  sorts  are  needed, 
all  sorts  are  useful ;  and  he  who  requiring  one  sort 
begrudges  another  sort  of  man  another  sort  of 
books  is  without  the  genial  tolerance  that  ought 
to  prevail  in  the  happy  World  of  Books.  If  there 
were  no  novelists  but  those  of  the  DeMorgan, 
Locke,  Wharton  types,  the  world  would  lose  much 
pleasure — and  profit,  too. 

This  chapter  urges  more  critical  reading,  and  a 
search  for  the  better  books.  It  advances  a  step 
beyond  the  previous  appeal  to  pubHshers,  and 
urges  readers  to  raise  their  standards.  It  does  not 
implore  them  to  make  reading  a  Solemn  Duty;  it 
does  advise  them  to  look  for  more  Light  in  their 
Reading. 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


BOOK  REVIEWS 


133 


CHAPTER  IX 

BOOK  REVIEWS 

First  the  author,  then  the  publisher,  next  the 
bookseller,  and  finally  the  Reviewer.  The  Au- 
thor creates.  The  Publisher  reproduces.  The 
Bookseller  distributes.  The  Reviewer — is  he  a 
useful  creature,  or  a  parasite  ?  Does  he  contribute 
to  the  world's  well-being,  or  is  he  dispensable? 
What  service  does  he  render,  to  justify  his  exist- 
ence? What  has  he  done  for  you:  does  he  give 
you  pleasure,  inspiration,  useful  knowledge?  The 
answers  to  these  questions  vary  with  the  point  of 
view,  whether  it  be  that  of  an  author,  a  publisher, 
a  bookseller,  a  librarian,  an  Average  Reader — or  a 
Reviewer. 

The  Reviewer  is  both  a  reporter  and  a  censor. 
His  work  at  its  best  combines  aesthetic  and  utili- 
tarian functions.  Our  Book  Reviewing  is  done 
almost  entirely  under  newspaper  auspices.     The 

135 


136  Books  and  Folks 

Book  Reviews  are  related  to  the  departments  of 
dramatic  criticism,  music  criticism  and  sports. 
The  Sports  Editor  superintends  the  reporting  of 
athletic  events,  and  comments  thereon  in  the 
editorial  spirit.  He  upholds  the  Purity  of  Sport; 
he  writes  for  or  against  the  Bean  Ball  and  the  For- 
ward Pass,  criticizes  clubs  or  colleges  when  they 
show  taint  of  professionalism,  and  in  general  re- 
gards Sport  as  a  part  of  life  which  it  is  his  busi- 
ness to  regulate,  so  far  as  his  influence  may 
extend. 

The  somewhat  more  austere  gentlemen  who 
write  of  Music  and  the  Drama  view  their  special- 
ties, more  consciously,  in  much  the  same  way. 
First,  they  must  help  their  readers  to  decide  which 
concert  or  play  to  attend ;  after  that,  they  are  free 
to  arbitrate  the  destinies  of  composers,  conduc- 
tors, singers,  playwrights  and  players.  Years 
ago  there  was  a  critic  who  persistently  distracted 
attention  from  a  prima  donna's  voice  to  her 
"pleasing  personality,"  and  another  who  dwelt 
relentlessly  upon  the  pronunciation  of  Thais,  sug- 
gesting "thighs" — not  because  either  critic  was 
frivolous-minded,  but  in  earnest  protest  against 


Book  Reviews  137 

the  creation  of  a  popular  idol  out  of  a  singer  who 
by  their  critical  standards  failed  to  reach  the 
measure  of  true  greatness.  The  critics  were  try- 
ing, seriously,  to  mould  Public  Opinion.  The 
cynic  would  say  that  of  course  the  Public  went  its 
own  way,  set  up  its  own  idol,  and  enjoyed,  week 
after  week,  the  vain  writings  of  these  two  learned 
and  witty  gentlemen ;  and  that  they,  also  of  course, 
knew  from  the  start  that  the  Public  would  do 
just  that.  But  the  serio-comic  attack  probably 
inspired  not  a  few  opera-goers  to  a  more  intelli- 
gently critical  attention  than  they  would  other- 
wise have  given. 

Sample  Book  Reviewers 

The  Book  Reviewer  is  commonly  supposed  to  be 
a  poor  devil  of  a  would-be  author  who,  seeking 
consolation  for  his  failure  as  a  creator,  engages 
in  the  delightful  occupation  of  criticising  the 
creative  work  of  others.  Having  tried  the  trick 
and  failed  to  master  it,  he  is  supposed  to  believe 
himself  possessed  of  special  fitness  and  abihty  to 
tell  what  the  successful  ones  are  trying  to  do,  and 
how,  why  and  where  they  have  fallen  short  of 


138  Books  and  Folks 

Perfection.  He  undertakes  the  dual  responsi- 
bilities of  reporting  and  censoring.  One  very 
bright  and  able  young  Reviewer,  being  set  in 
charge  of  a  newspaper  Book  Section,  propounded 
the  theory  that  it,  like  any  other  part  of  a  news- 
paper, should  concentrate  its  concern  upon  re- 
porting. A  new  book  was  an  Event.  A  book  that 
would  sell  50,000  this  year  and  be  dead  next  year 
was  of  more  import  for  Book  Section  purposes 
than  one  that  would  sell  500  this  year,  10,000  a 
year  five  years  from  now,  and  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands when  it  should  have  passed  the  Test  of  Time 
and  become  a  Classic. 

Another  Literary  Editor  gave  a  new  twist  to  the 
Books-as-News  idea.  Instead  of  concentrating 
book  news  in  a  separate  department,  he  distrib- 
uted it  with  other  news  through  the  paper.  Every 
day  was  Book  Day.  The  theory  here  was  pre- 
sumably that  Book  News  carefully  compacted  and 
labelled,  for  the  easy  guidance  of  those  who 
wanted  to  find  Book  Island  in  the  midst  of  News 
Ocean,  was  also  marked  for  avoidance  by  those 
who  did  not  want  it.  And  Literary  Editors  want 
to  be  read ! 


Book  Reviews  i39 

Of  Book  Sections 

Genuine  criticism  is  supposed  to  be  rare  in 
America;  and  if  solemn  self-consciousness  is  the 
hallmark  of  the  genuine,  the  denial  of  credit  seems 
to  be  justified.  We  have  a  great  deal  of  very  poor 
comment  on  books  in  newspapers,  in  the  cities  of 
second  rank.  It  is  put  in  as  a  concession  to  readers 
whose  interest  in  book  news  is  recognized  but  woe- 
fully misjudged  and  underestimated;  and  also,  no 
doubt,  as  bait  for  an  occasional  advertisement. 
The  notices  are  written  by  dilettante  critics,  or  by 
someone  who  can  rewrite  the  book's  jacket  puff 
acceptably ;  that  is  to  say,  make  it  just  about  good 
enough  to  get  by.  Such  newspapers  are  like  the 
person  who  in  conversation  says  something  that  is 
either  too  much  or  too  little ;  something  that  ought 
either  to  have  been  withheld,  or  to  be  expanded. 
They  acknowledge  a  demand,  but  they  do  not  meet 
it  satisfactorily. 

At  the  other  extreme  is  the  newspaper  page  or 
section  that  professes  to  give  scientific  criticism, 
not  like  that  of  some  solemn  Review  that  might  be 
thought  of  as  an  Unterseeboot  submerged  in  the  pro- 
foundest  deeps  of  scholarship,  but  in  the  manner 


140  Books  and  Folks 

of  an  organ  of  professional,  not  hack  criticism. 
The  editor  of  such  a  Book  Section  is  likely  to  be 
bombarded  with  more  "general"  articles  and 
essays  than  he  likes  to  provide  with  herbergage ;  he 
is  tempted  by  the  Great  American  Demand  for 
Features.  He  is  in  danger  of  being  led  into  giving 
less  of  his  space  to  critics,  and  more  of  it  to  pot- 
boiling  authors,  than  deep  Students  of  Literature 
would  approve.  Authors  are  not  critics!  But 
Americans  would  rather  read  an  author's  essay 
on  Literature,  or  on  his  own  or  another  author's 
work,  than  any  mere  commentator's  analysis  of 
a  book,  or  even  a  true  critic's  interpretation  of  a 
man  and  his  work  or  a  "movement "  in  the  World 
of  Letters. 

Another  danger  into  which  editors  of  Book  Sec- 
tions may  easily  fall,  a  danger  subtly  reenforced 
of  late  by  the  need  of  economy  in  paper,  is  that 
of  combining  the  Book  Section  and  the  Simday 
Magazine. 

American  bookmaking  is  not  quite  so  haphazard 
as  its  immensity  and  complexity  make  it,  super- 
ficially, appear.  We  are  on  our  way  and  we  know 
more  about  where  we  are  going  than  some  folks 


Book  Reviews  141 

may  think !  If  we  do  consume  enormous  quanti- 
ties of  trash,  it  may  be  that  those  who  read  trash 
today  will  be  a  degree  higher  in  the  scale  tomorrow, 
while  those  who  now  are  wholly  unlettered  will  be 
starting  their  literate  career  with  the  Books  for  the 
Masses.  Among  a  hundred  million  people,  a  pop- 
ulation fed  by  incoming  hordes  of  persons  who  have 
had  no  opportunity  to  read,  a  nation,  too,  in 
whose  colleges  and  schools  enrollment  is  increasing 
with  amazing  rapidity,  there  is  a  field  of  usefulness 
for  every  sort  of  book.  And  certainly,  also,  there 
is  a  reason-for-being  for  books  about  books,  and 
for  newspaper  reports  of  books;  for  comment  on 
The  Books  of  the  Day,  even  if  it  be  only  second- 
hand jacket  puffery,  and  for  Criticism,  scientific 
and  artistic. 

Some  Reviewers  I  Have  Known 

The  Reviewer's  work  may  be  to  him  a  drudgery 
or  a  joy,  and  to  his  readers  a  drug  or  a  treat.  I 
knew  one  Reviewer,  years  ago,  who  used  to  write 
for  a  certain  newspaper  a  weekly  article,  nearly  a 
page  long,  on  a  single  New  Book.  I  often  won- 
dered at  his  selection  of  the  volume.     Certainly 


142  Books  and  Folks 

the  choices  were  not  "popular,"  not  for  the  Mob; 
nor  were  they  primarily  literary.  At  last  I  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  purpose  of  that  page 
was  to  supply  elderly  gentlemen  with  material  for 
conversation  at  The  Clubs.  An  hour,  of  a  Sun- 
day morning,  would  do  the  work  of  many  hours 
applied  to  the  book  itself.  The  object  of  the 
reviewer  was  to  "give  the  book."  In  5000  words 
the  Reviewer  presented  what  the  Author  spun  out 
to  75,000.  The  reader  could  master  the  Far  East, 
or  the  Life  of  Gladstone,  or  the  Antiquities  of  Egypt, 
with  neatness  and  dispatch ;  and  each  passing  week 
added  a  new  weapon  to  his  conversational 
armory. 

Another  Reviewer  that  I  used  to  know  belonged 
to  the  School  of  Vespa,  the  Wasp.  He  liked  to 
sting.  He  had  scholarship :  which  does  not  make 
men  hard  or  soft,  but  emphasizes  their  hardness 
or  softness,  giving  them  instruments  of  cruelty 
more  refined  and  effective,  or  enlarging  their  means 
for  beneficence.  This  Reviewer  was  "good- 
hearted,"  but  acid-minded.  He  made  of  sarcasm 
an  art.  To  him,  I  think,  the  author  of  a  new 
book  was  not  a  person,  but  a  name,  the  symbol  of 


Book  Reviews  143 

an  event,  the  appearance  of  another  combatant 
in  the  Hsts.  Once,  however,  he  betrayed  recogni- 
tion of  the  personaHty  back  of  the  book,  for  he 
asked  me  to  read  an  article  that  he  feared  might 
possibly  be  too  savage,  because  the  author  was  a 
friend  of  his !  He  made  authors  bleed,  publishers 
weep,  and  his  own  readers  chuckle. 

The  Reviewer's  Honest  Living 

Newspapers  print  Book  Reviews  not  merely  as 
a  part  of  their  undertaking  to  give  all  the  news  to 
the  people,  nor  only  as  a  revenue-producer  through 
increased  circulation  and  advertising,  nor  exclu- 
sively because  the  Proprietor  is  interested  in  books 
and  criticism  and  wants  his  paper  to  be  influential 
in  moulding  public  literary  taste.  But  all  these 
considerations  are  factors  in  the  situation.  A 
Book  Page  or  Book  Section  draws  readers  that 
might  otherwise  go  elsewhere.  They  are  readers 
that  the  publishers  want  to  "reach  " ;  and  so  a  new 
section  of  advertising  business  comes  in.  And,  if 
the  Reviews  are  good,  the  power  and  prestige  of 
the  publication  and  its  publishers  are  enlarged. 

The   popular   idea   of   a   newspaper   Editorial 


144  Books  and  Folks 

Writer  or  Book  Reviewer  is  that  he  is  a  man  who 
sells  his  vocabulary,  not  his  ideas.  He  takes  his 
ideas  from  the  Management.  He  may  be  a 
Boozer,  but  if  the  Chief  says,  "Praise Prohibition," 
he  takes  a  drink,  and  by  its  inspiration  writes  a 
Dry  article.  He  may  be  a  woman-hater,  but  if  the 
Boss  orders  a  "piece"  exalting  the  Superior  Sex, 
he  takes  care  not  to  let  his  tears  fall  into  the  ink- 
well and  dilute  the  fluid  with  which  he  indites  his 
eloquent  tribute  to  The  Female  of  the  Species.  If 
a  book  is  handed  to  him  for  notice,  with  the  re- 
mark that  the  Author  is  a  Friend  of  the  Owner's, 
he  is  supposed — in  this  picture — to  call  it  superla- 
tively good,  whether  it  is  really  good,  execrably 
bad,  or  devoid  of  either  character. 

Now,  my  newspaper  experience  offered  no  con- 
firmation of  that  idea,  and  I  do  not  believe  that 
there  are  many  newspaper  offices  where  such  con- 
ditions exist.  Our  journalism  is  anonymous,  and 
the  newspaper  is  responsible  for  what  it  says. 
Naturally,  the  Owner,  out  of  whose  pocket  must 
come  the  settlement  of  bills  for  damages  in  libel 
suits,  and  whose  income  is  diminished  when 
readers  or  advertisers  or  powerful  patrons  are 


Book  Reviews  i45 

offended,  surrounds  himself  with  a  staff  of  men 
as  Hke-minded  to  himself  as  may  be.  It  is  "bet- 
ter business"  for  him  to  get  his  articles  from  men 
who  can  say  with  sincerity  what  he  wants  said. 
It  is  better  business,  if  one  of  his  writers  has  a  con- 
scientious objection  to  supplying  text  for  a  certain 
propaganda,  to  turn  the  job  over  to  some  other 
member  of  the  staff  who  is  in  sympathy ;  and  so  I 
have  seen  it  done.  All  life  is  a  matter  of  give-and- 
take,  and  of  course,  on  the  other  side,  the  writer 
says — without  a  qualm — some  things  he  would 
not  put  out  entirely  on  his  own  responsibiHty. 

As  to  the  Book  Reviews,  the  situation  is  much 
the  same.  The  man  who  sets  out  to  puff  or  damn 
a  book,  without  knowing  or  caring  to  know 
whether  praise  or  censure  is  its  just  desert,  will 
write  a  patently  insincere  notice;  and  sincerity 
is  the  touchstone.  The  newspaper  that  prints 
insincere  editorial  articles  and  Book  Reviews  is 
not  likely  to  become  a  Permanent  Establishment. 
Readers  may  not,  perhaps,  often  be  heard  accus- 
ing the  paper  of  insincerity;  but  they  recoil  from  it, 
they  instinctively  distrust  it,  they  are  not  com- 
fortable in  its  presence. 


H6  Books  and  Folks 

Imagine  the  Model  Reviewer: 

The  Reviewer  who  reaHzes  the  ideal  of  his  craft 
is  one  who  is  modest,  but  not  meek.  He  has 
courage,  but  he  is  not  rash.  He  can  argue  a  point, 
but  is  not  contentious;  perhaps  he  is  the  better, 
though,  for  having  passed  through  a  period  of 
aggressive  self-assertion. 

He  is  sufficiently  old  in  experience  to  have  self- 
control  and  balance;  young  enough  in  tempera- 
ment to  be  able  to  approach  each  new  book  with 
enthusiasm  or,  at  least,  with  readiness  to  be  made 
enthusiastic.  He  must  be  able  to  report  great 
discoveries  without  excessive  joy,  which  his  read- 
ers will  too  greatly  discount;  and  to  meet  disap- 
pointments without  bitterness,  that  might  betray 
him  into  unfairness. 

He  ought  to  be  neither  superficial  nor  profound. 
Dilettante  dabbling  and  pedantic  ponderosity  are 
equally  undesirable  and  futile.  He  must  be  S5mi- 
pathetic,  but  on  his  guard  against  sentimentality. 
He  must  beware  of  formulistic  phraseology,  but  he 
must  have  some  guiding  rules  and  principles  of  criti- 
cism at  the  back  of  his  mind  to  keep  him  in  balance. 

He  must  be  fair  to  the  author.     It  is  arrogant 


Book  Reviews  i47 

to  oppose  to  the  author's  long  and  earnest  study 
and  effort  the  snap  judgment  of  a  skimmer.  Let 
the  author's  performance  be  judged  in  terms  of 
his  postulate ;  then  let  the  premise  be  weighed  and 
analyzed.  What  is  this  author  trying  to  do?  Is 
it  worth  doing  ?  Has  he  done  it  well  ?  These  are 
the  questions  to  be  posed  in  the  Reviewer's  mind 
and  answered  in  his  article.  If  the  Reviewer  has 
prejudices  that  may  sway  his  judgment,  he  must 
acknowledge  or  exhibit  them,  so  that  allowances 
may  be  made  by  the  Reader,  whose  interest  is  after 
all  the  superlative  one.  But  the  Reviewer  cannot 
decently  default  in  his  responsibility  to  hold  the 
author  to  account;  an  author's  work  and  study 
may  have  been  misdirected,  even  indubitable 
Genius  may  have  distilled  a  temptations  poison, 
against  which  a  warning  should  be  uttered.  But 
there  is  nothing  meaner,  more  contemptible,  than 
an  insincere  handling  by  a  Small-Souled  Critic  of 
the  Work  of  a  Literary  Creator ! 

Responsibilities  of  the  Reviewer 

Next,  this  Model  Reviewer  has  responsibility  to 
the  Publisher.     The  publisher  has  committed  his 


148  Books  and  Folks 

judgment,  pledged  his  prestige  and  risked  his 
money  on  each  volume  that  he  puts  out.  He  is 
trying  to  give  the  public  what  it  wants;  and,  to 
varying  extents,  publishers  endeavor  to  make  the 
public  recognize  and  want  the  Better  Books.  The 
Reviewer  is  not  working  for  the  publisher;  it 
would  be  wrong  if  he  did.  But  he  has  no  more 
right  to  hurt  the  publisher's  business  thought- 
lessly and  unintentionally,  than  to  hurt  it  mali- 
ciously. Each  book  has  its  potential  Following. 
Among  the  millions,  there  are  some  tens  or  hun- 
dreds or  thousands  for  whom  it  has  desirability. 
The  Reviewer  owes  it  to  the  publisher  to  describe 
the  volume  accurately,  so  that  each  reader  may 
decide  whether  it  is  or  is  not  a  book  about  which 
he  ought  to  make  further  inquiry;  or,  definitely,  a 
book  that  he  wants  or  does  not  want  to  read. 

The  Reviewer's  supreme  responsibility  is  to  the 
Public.  People  come  to  him  for  information  and 
advice.  If  he  gives  them  technical  jargon,  stereo- 
typed phraseology,  insubstantial,  space-filling 
word-webs;  if  he  makes  himself  bigger  than  the 
book;  if  he  is  insincere,  arrogant  or  pretentious, 
he  has  played  them  false.    They  give  him  the 


Book  Reviews  149 

compliment  of  confidence,  and  he  betrays  it  with 
the  insolence  of  short  measure,  the  mockery  of  a 
mean  spirit. 

The  Reviewer  does  not  know  everything,  and 
is  a  fool  if  he  pretends  omniscience.  But  he  does 
know  books,  and  we  ask  him  to  be  the  Prophet 
and  Priest  in  our  World  of  Letters. 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


FREEDOM  IN  THE 
KINGDOM  OF  BOOKS 


151 


CHAPTER  X 

FREEDOM  IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  BOOKS 

The  percentage  of  our  people  who  read  books  is 
respectably  large,  but  the  percentage  of  habitual 
bookbuyers  is  extremely  small.  A  very  consider- 
able portion  of  America's  reading  is  made  possible 
by  the  service  of  public  libraries.  The  book- 
buyer  is  a  person  who  wants  a  library  in  his  home ; 
and  our  population  is  too  unstable  to  give  much 
encouragement  to  the  home  library.  The  true 
book-lover  and  habitual  reader  is  apt  to  be  a  settled 
sort  of  person ;  and  most  of  us  in  these  restless  days 
are  not  settled  but  itinerant.  Books  are  good 
furniture,  but  heavy  luggage. 

Buy  a  book  a  week,  the  publishers  urge.  A 
book  a  week,  fifty-two  books  a  year,  is  too  much 
for  the  non-bookbuyer  to  comprehend;  too  little 
to  impress  the  person  who  does  already  buy  books. 
To  the  new  buyer  the  "slogan"  must  imply  a  for- 

153 


154  Books  and  Folks 

bidding  drudgery  of  persistence.  To  the  friend 
of  books,  it  might  easily  suggest  an  obnoxious 
regularity  of  mechanism,  a  repellent  routine,  a  too 
severely  prescribed  regimen.  The  best  friends  the 
publishers  have  are  the  folks  of  liberal  temperament 
who  would  rather  buy  four  books  at  once,  read  them 
in  four  evenings,  and  go  without  new  books  the 
rest  of  the  month.  An  occasional  spree  suits  them 
better  than  continuous  moderate  indulgence. 

Few  of  us  are  so  scholarly -minded  that  regulated 
reading,  reading  by  schedule,  so  much  a  day,  week 
after  week,  is  interesting.  The  young  man  who  takes 
the  same  box  of  chocolates  to  his  Best  Girl  week  after 
week  had  better  hasten  his  courtship.  Christmas 
every  day  would  soon  become  a  horror,  even  to  the 
most  acquisitive  child.  Some  discipline  in  reading  is 
good,  but  the  reading  that  gives  the  most  of  pleasure 
and  profit  is  not  laid  out  like  a  railroad  timetable. 
The  thing  that  can  most  profitably  be  encouraged 
and  developed  is  spontaneous,  joyous  reading. 

What  are  the  Best  Books  ? 

Every  now  and  then  some  restless  writer  puts 
forth  a  list  of  Best  Books.     The  production  of 


Freedom  of  Books  155 

such  Ksts  is  fun ;  but  the  Hsts  are  not  very  helpful. 
The  selection  is  arbitrary;  one  list  is  as  good  as 
another.  In  some  minds  they  produce  amuse- 
ment, in  others  confusion.  Sir  Arthur  Quiller- 
Couch  reduces  the  idea  to  an  absurdity  by 
suggesting  a  list  of  Fifty  Fifteenth-best  Books,  or 
something  like  that.  Anybody  could  compile  an 
acciu-ate  list  of  the  Hundred  Heaviest  Books  (re- 
ferring to  physical  heft),  or  a  list  of  Five  Thou- 
sand Books  with  Red  Covers,  and  there  could  be 
no  argument  about  it.  But  Best  Books — who 
shall  say  what  is  best?  One  history  may  be  ad- 
judged better  than  another,  by  competent  assay- 
ists;  but  how  can  Pilgrim's  Progress  be  called  a 
better  book  than  Harkness's  Latin  Grammar,  or 
the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  a  worse  one  than 
Treasure  Island  ? 

To  choose  books  it  is  necessary  to  know  books. 
To  know  books  so  that  a  wise  choice  can  be  made 
is  not  easy  in  these  days  of  over-production.  And 
that  is  where  such  helps  come  into  play  as  the 
Hbrarian's  advice,  the  reviewer's  report,  and  above 
all  the  comment  of  friends  who  have  read  the 
book  about  which  curiosity  has  been  aroused.    The 


156  Books  and  Folks 

publishers  bewilder  the  reader  with  their  ad- 
vertisements. They  cannot,  with  good  ethics  or 
good  manners,  compare  their  books  with  those  of 
their  competitors.  They  cannot  compare  one  of 
their  own  books  with  another,  urging  one  as  better 
than  another,  for  they  are  trying  to  sell  them  all. 
They  do  indeed  tell  you  that  each  book  as  it  ap- 
pears is  better  than  anything  ever  before  written 
by  its  author — and  this  is  discouraging  to  the  im- 
pulse of  purchase,  as  it  implies  that  the  next  book 
will  be  still  better,  the  one  after  that  pluperfect 
and  the  next  preterpluperfect,  and  so  on  in  an 
alarming  progression  that  may  easily  end  in 
postponement  of  the  investment. 

In  the  Confusion  of  Counsel 

Where  there  are  so  many  counsellors,  the  seeker 
after  guidance  may  listen  to  all  but  must  heed 
none  exclusively.  He  must  take  this  bit  of  evi- 
dence and  that,  put  them  together,  subtract  a 
little  here  and  add  something  there,  and  so  reach 
a  conclusion  based  upon  his  own  powers  of  reason- 
ing. He  is  on  guard  against  the  superlatives  of 
jacket  puffery.     He  can  tell  more  about  the  book 


Freedom  of  Books  i57 

if  he  knows  its  chapter  titles.  Without  depriv- 
ing the  bookseller  of  any  of  his  just  rights,  he  can 
from  a  peep  into  the  pages  get  the  smack  of  the 
author's  style — if  the  author  has  a  style.  He  can 
sometimes  get  advice  and  help  from  the  bookstore 
clerk;  they  are  not  all — really,  very  few  of  them 
are — like  the  one  who  told  a  would-be  customer 
asking  for  the  new  facsimile  of  the  first  edition  of 
Dickens's  Christmas  Carol  that  he  must  mean  the 
new  edition  of  Bird's  Christmas  Carol.  If  the 
clerk  knows  his  stock  and  the  customer  knows  his 
own  mind,  effective  cooperation  is  possible. 

To  get  good  out  of  book  reviews,  in  addition  to 
immediate  entertainment,  the  reader  must  know 
his  reviewer  or,  if  the  review  is  anonymous,  the 
publication  in  which  it  appears.  If  the  reviews 
are  consistently  cynical,  the  reader  knows  they 
must  be  seldom  accurate.  If  they  are  consciously 
clever,  he  suspects  their  sincerity.  He  suspects 
that,  when  the  Limitations  of  Space  compel  the 
reviewer  to  choose  between  commonplace  comment 
on  something  important  and  a  good  joke  prompted 
by  something  utterly  insignificant  in  the  forma- 
tion of  a  correct  judgment  of  the  work,  the  face- 


158  Books  and  Folks 

tious  reviewer  is  going  to  indulge  himself  in  the 
quip  at  the  reader's  and  the  author's  joint  expense. 
But  when  the  reader  knows  that  the  reviewer  has 
praised  Blank's  earlier  books  for  things  he  dis- 
liked, and  scolded  Dash's  for  things  he  admired, 
and  he  finds  him  now  roasting  Blank's  new  one 
and  boosting  Dash's:  why,  then  he  feels  pretty- 
sure  it's  time  for  him  to  change  over  from  Dash 
to  Blank.  Knowing  his  reviewer,  he  is  able  to 
profit  by  his  weaknesses  as  well  as  by  his  strong 
points. 

So,  after  all  the  questing  for  help  and  guidance 
it  comes  to  be  a  case  of  Who  shall  watch  the  watch- 
man, and  the  seeker  is  inevitably  thrown  back 
upon  his  own  resources.  Where,  then,  is  the 
begining  to  be  made? 

The  General  Reader  and  the  One-Book  Man 

Classification  is  the  first  thing.  The  book- 
store clerk  knows  what  he  is  about  when  he 
manoeuvres  for  a  hint  of  the  Kind  of  Reading  the 
customer  wants.  Some  books  are  for  amusement 
only;  some  are  for  information  only;  some  inform 
amusingly  or  amuse  informingly.     Fun  and  edi- 


Freedom  of  Books  159 

fication  are  not  mutually  exclusive.  It  ought  to  be 
easy  to  decide  whether  a  technical  book,  a  pleas- 
ure book  or  a  book  of  inspiration  is  wanted.  Once 
the  decision  is  made,  the  buyer  is  strong.  He  has 
reduced  and  defined  the  field  of  observation  for 
selection.  If  he  wants  "a  book,"  he  has  many 
thousands  of  possibilities  to  consider;  if  he  wants  a 
novel,  he  has  fewer  thousands ;  and  there  is  a  con- 
stantly lessening  array  of  bewilderments  as  he 
advances  into  "difficult"  subjects  like  history 
and  philosophy. 

Another  distinction  that  will  help  the  puzzled 
reader  in  his  selection  is  the  distinction  between 
what  he  reads  for  his  secret,  private  self  and  what 
he  reads  for  his  social  self.  We  speak  of  "a  one- 
man  dog"  and  there  are  one-book  men,  too;  fel- 
lows who  let  Literature  go  while  they  turn  always 
to  the  same  worn  old  volume  for  all  their  pleasure 
of  reading.  Such  allegiance  is  not  often  granted 
to  an  unworthy  object;  whether  it  be  Kim  or 
Huckleberry  Finn  or  Marcus  AxireHus's  Medita- 
tions or  a  Kempis's  Imitation,  the  one-book  man's 
book  is  sure  to  have  something  deep  and  strong, 
true  and  lasting,  ever  fresh  and  vital,  in  the  text. 


i6o  Books  and  Folks 

Almost  always,  I  think,  the  one  book  of  a  one- 
book  man  reduces  to  a  philosophical  essence, 
whether  the  book  is  professedly  philosophical, 
religious,  fictitious,  or  anything  else.  The  book 
may  have  been  hit  upon  by  accident,  but  its  re- 
tention in  the  affections  is  the  fruit  of  a  spiritual 
kinship  between  the  writer  and  the  reader.  One- 
book  men  ought  not,  perhaps,  to  be  emulated, 
but  they  are  easily  envied.  Emulation,  as  an 
easy  solution  of  the  Problem  of  Selection,  is  not 
to  be  recommended,  because  one-book  men  are 
not  made  but  are  "bom  that  way."  However,  it 
seems  sensible  to  take  a  hint  from  their  happiness, 
and  keep  one  little  shelf  or  section  of  the  home 
book  outfit  separate  for  specially  private  and 
personal  delectation  and  edification. 

The  Desert  Island  Test 

A  friend  of  mine,  a  chap  who  knows  books 
but  also  knows  his  own  mind,  says  in  a  letter 
to  me: 

Some  of  my  highbrow  friends  would  laugh  if  they 
should  see  a  list  of  the  books  that  I  myself  would  select 
for  my  Secret-Self  collection.     There  are  not  many 


Freedom  of  Books  i6i 

of  them.  They  are  the  few  that  I  want  to  have  al- 
ways handy,  to  fall  back  on  when  everything  else  fails. 
Longfellow's  poems — not  the  sonnets  or  the  Dante 
translation,  "Evangeline"  or  "Hiawatha,"  but  the 
lyrics  "that  gush  from  the  heart."  "Day  is  done, 
and  the  darkness  Falls  from  the  wings  of  Night  As  a 
feather  is  wafted  downward  From  an  eagle  in  his 
flight. "  "  And  the  cares  that  infest  the  day  Shall  fold 
their  tents  like  an  Arab  And  silently  steal  away." 
Hopeless?  Maybe;  but  happy.  And  then  there  is 
my  battered  old  volume  of  Tennyson ;  and  another  of 
Aldrich — Tom  Bailey,  no  less — with  a  well-worn  path- 
way right  through  it.  And  side-by-side  with  this, 
let  me  place  The  Story  of  a  Bad  Boy.  Irving's 
Knickerbocker  History,  half  a  dozen  Coopers ;  Dreiser's 
Hoosier  Holiday,  and  Earl  Reed's  Michigan  dune 
books ;  Rob  of  the  Bowl,  and  one  or  two  of  Sims's  novels : 
and  there's  the  list.  I've  jotted  it  down  quite  off- 
hand, because  I  believe  it's  more  valuable  that  way 
than  if  it  were  more  pondered.  Perhaps  afterthought 
would  add  a  title  or  two  more ;  but  if  I  were  cast  away 
on  the  desert  island  of  the  traditional  test  with  these 
and  these  alone,  I  think  I  would  never  lack  for  literary 
refreshment.  Shakespeare  and  Don  Quixote  and 
Howells  and  Hardy — and  Heine — are  left  out.  So 
are  Scott  and  Dickens  and  Kipling — if  Ivanhoe  and 
Bleak  House  and  Kim  were  to  be  washed  ashore  on  my 
lonely  strand  they  would  be  mighty  welcome! — 
Meredith  and  Mark  Twain  and  regiments  of  the 
Truly  Great  are  neglected. 


i62  Books  and  Folks 

This  is  a  rashly  honest  confession.  It  carried  a 
postscript:  "If  these  aren't  available,  just  give  me 
three  or  four  De  Morgans,  and  let  it  go  at  that." 

Know  the  Great  Books 

Then  there  are  the  books  a  man  reads  for  the 
good  of  his  Social  Self,  the  books  that  help  him  to 
appear  intelligent  when  talk  of  books  is  toward. 
There  are  some  books  that  will  be  mentioned  only 
by  specialists,  who  cannot  fairly  expect  others  to 
keep  up  with  them — and  would  be  hurt  if  they 
did.  One  is  not  going  to  read  Motley  and  Park- 
man,  to  engage  in  even-sided  talk  with  a  Professor 
of  History.  We  admire  them — on  faith.  Nor,  if 
one  is  wise,  will  he  ever  take  a  dare  from  the  Bluffer 
who  springs  Schopenhauer  on  him,  or  Stendhal,  or 
Gil  Bias.  This  person  is  prepared  for  the  occa- 
sion; he  has  digged  a  pitfall  for  unwary  feet. 
Macaulay  is  more  praised  than  read;  aside  from 
Henry  Esmond,  The  Newcomes,  and  possibly  but 
doubtfully  Vanity  Fair,  Thackeray  is  not  com- 
monly known.  It  sounds  heretical  perhaps  to  the 
student  of  histories  of  Hterature;  but  it  is  true. 
Many  talkers-about-books  have  read  more  of  the 


Freedom  of  Books  163 

Books  About  Books  than  of  the  book  they  are 
about;  and  only  the  weak-minded  will  permit 
themselves  to  be  put  to  shame  by  talk  based  on 
that  second-hand  knowledge. 

To  meet  it,  however,  'tis  good  to  have  genuine, 
first-hand  knowledge  of  some  of  the  really  great 
books.  Literature  rivals  religion  as  a  foster- 
father  of  hypocrisy,  the  Small-Soul's  compHment 
to  Truth.  If  reading  often  encourages  sham  and 
pretence,  it  is  because  reading  is  one  of  the  Good 
Things  of  Life  and  subject  to  abuse.  How  much 
better  to  be  sincere  in  the  knowledge  of  a  few  good 
things  than  to  flaunt  a  pretended  knowledge  of 
many  things.  The  man  who  knows  one  thing 
commands  more  respect,  not  perhaps  from  the 
world  at  large,  but  from  those  whose  respect  is 
worth  having,  than  the  man  who  is  ready  to  tell 
you  all  about  everything.  Soundness  and  sin- 
cerity :  in  them  is  power,  and  from  them  comes  the 
serenity  of  conscious  strength. 

The  man  who  boasts  that  he  has  read  nothing 
pubHshed  in  the  last  ten  years,  and  the  one  who  de- 
clares he  has  "no  use  for  the  dead  ones,"  are  fools 
— and  both,  probably,  false  in  their  vaunting  folly. 


1 64  Bcx)ks  and  Folks 

Among  books,  as  among  folks,  chance  acquain- 
tance may  lead  to  choice  of  friends.  Every  one 
meets  people  casually  and  parts  with  them  without 
concern;  probably  never  to  see  them  again,  as  he 
goes  his  way  through  the  world  and  they  go  theirs. 
One  picks  up  a  book  that  happens  to  be  handy,  and 
uses  it  to  fill  an  unclaimed  hoiir.  Next  day,  per- 
haps he  cannot  recall  its  title  or  name  its  author. 
The  stranger  to  whom  a  chance  word  is  spoken 
may  answer  in  a  way  that  leads  to  conversation, 
the  matching  of  minds,  the  discovery  of  common 
interests  and  the  formation  of  a  lasting  friendship ; 
and  the  accidental  book  may  conquer  in  the  same 
way. 

Something  heard  about  a  man  or  a  book  may 
make  one  seek  out  him  or  it,  with  purpose  to  form 
a  friendship.  Or  something  heard  or  read  about 
the  man  or  the  book  may  turn  one  definitely 
against  him  or  it.  This  may  not  be  the  kind  of 
person  with  whom  one  cares  to  associate ;  that  may 
not  be  the  sort  of  book  to  which  one  cares  to  give 
his  time.  But  it's  a  twisty  old  world,  and  no  doubt 
we  sometimes  lose,  in  this  perfectly  reasonable  way, 
a  friendship  that  would  have  been  invaluable. 


Freedom  of  Books  165 

What  to  Read  and  How  to  Live 

What  to  read  is  a  phase  of  How  to  live.  Read 
the  books  that  make  life  more  worth  while.  Read 
pleasure-books  and  business-books;  read  books 
that  fill  the  mind,  books  that  stretch  the  mind; 
books  that  put  the  reader  in  touch  with  mankind 
of  yesterday,  today  and  tomorrow;  books  that  in- 
spire by  convincing,  and  books  that  stimulate  by 
crossing  one's  views.  Let  your  reading  range  far 
and  wide,  but  map  mentally  the  territory  it 
traverses;  and  in  part  of  your  reading,  let  depth 
rather  than  distance  be  the  aim.  Read  well-writ- 
ten books;  read  sincere  books;  read  books  that  are 
worth  the  time  invested  in  them. 

No  one  can  say  "You  ought  to  read  this  book, 
or  that  book."  My  ought  is  different  from  yours, 
and  the  two  from  anybody  else's. 

In  the  Kingdom  of  Books  there  is  true  freedom, 
and  the  Categorical  Imperative  prevaileth  not. 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


HOW  TO  READ 


167 


CHAPTER  XI 

HOW  TO  READ 

People  are  not  thrifty  with  books.  Can  any- 
one get  out  of  a  book  in  an  hour,  a  day,  or  a  week, 
what  someone  has  put  into  it  in  a  year,  or  perhaps 
a  Hfetime,  of  study  and  hard  work  ?  Whatever  is 
worth  reading  at  all  is  worth  reading  critically. 
It  may  be  said  with  some  reason  that  it  is  better 
to  read  a  poor  book  carefully  than  a  good  one 
carelessly,  because  in  the  first  instance  the  mind 
is  getting  exercise  and  in  the  second  it  is  indulging 
in  sloth — in  one  it  is  being  honest,  and  in  the  other 
it  is  guilty  of  sham. 

Read  thriftily. 

Read  attentively. 

Read  alertly. 

Read  with  your  whole  mind. 

Place  the  Book 

Before  beginning  a  book,  the  reader  should 
"place"  it.     He  should  ask:  "What  do  I  know 

169 


170  Books  and  Folks 

about  the  subject  ?  What  books  have  I  read  with 
which  this  one  may  be  compared?  What  else  has 
the  author  written?  What  is  his  'standing'? 
What  do  I  expect  to  find  in  the  book? "  One  does 
not  go  into  an  interview,  or  conference  as  they  say 
in  Business,  without  some  preparation.  He  re- 
views his  own  ideas  of  the  subject  to  be  discussed, 
and  tries  to  foresee  what  the  other  folks  will  have 
to  say.  He  gets  himself  tuned  up  for  it.  Isn't  it 
sensible  to  do  the  same  thing  before  plunging  into 
a  book?  The  questions  to  be  asked  as  a  prelimi- 
nary may  at  first  call  for  an  effort  that  seems  to 
dull  the  pleasure  of  the  enterprise ;  but  after  it  has 
been  done  a  few  times  it  becomes  easy  and  natural. 
Before  long  it  will  become  a  part  of  one's  reading 
habit  that  he  would  be  sorry  to  lose.  It  imparts 
a  knowledge  of  literary  personnel  that  is  worth 
having. 

Who  Sponsors  the  Book  ? 

How  many  readers  ever  notice  who  the  pub- 
Hsher  is?  Back  of  every  publishing  business  is  a 
Man ;  and  he  is  a  Man  with  an  Idea.  His  person- 
aHty  goes  into  the  product,   through  his  selec- 


How  to  Read  171 

tion  of  authors,  his  estimate  of  what  is  good  and 
his  accommodation  of  literary  standards  to  the 
requirements  of  Successful  Business. 

Perhaps  it  seems  fussy  and  a  bother  to  notice 
the  publisher's  name  on  the  book  you  read.  A 
man  likes  to  know  who  made  his  hat  and  his 
clothes ;  housewives  distinguish  brands  on  soap  and 
soup,  brooms  and  bacon,  coffee  and  cleansers.  If 
a  customer  sees  the  same  trademark  on  a  pen 
knife  that  he  has  seen  on  good  saws,  he  feels  pretty 
sure  that  the  knife  will  have  blades  of  good  metal, 
well  tempered.  Other  things  being  equal,  that 
reader  gets  the  utmost  of  good  from  books  who 
gives  attention  to  their  sponsorship.  It's  fun; 
it  keeps  one  alert.  The  reader's  critical  attention 
is  bound  to  have  some  effect  on  the  Book  Business. 
It  makes  him,  individually,  a  part  of  the  Guiding 
Forces  of  our  Literature.  If  all  readers  were  to 
do  it,  our  literature  would  become  more  homo- 
geneous, more  representatively  American-national. 

Who  Wrote  the  Book? 

The  next  step  will  be  to  watch  the  author.  The 
Artists  of  the  Screen  have  their  "foUowings";  so 


172  Books  and  Folks 

have  statesmen,  Big  League  pitchers,  prizefighters 
and  preachers.  The  novehsts,  of  course,  have 
their  troops  of  "fans";  readers  who  rejoice  at  the 
appearance  of  a  reahstic  story  of  American  city 
life  by  Mrs.  Watts  are  unmoved,  perhaps,  by  a 
new  Rupert  Hughes;  and  the  Tarkington  crowd 
is  calm  when  the  Cabell  audience  is  roused.  "I 
adore  Shaw,"  or  "  I  don't  care  for  Arnold  Bennett," 
forecasts  the  fate  of  a  new  book  in  certain  hands. 
It  is  easy  to  know  the  Great  Names  in  fiction, 
and  what  they  stand  for ;  if  it  were  not,  their  owners 
would  not  so  easily  become  great.  Does  not  the 
fact  that  it  is  so  easy  and  common  in  fiction 
indicate  the  good  sense  of  applying  it  to  all  one's 
reading?  Isn't  it  pleasant  to  feel  personality  of 
authorship  in  the  books  we  read?  Scholars  do  it, 
naturally,  in  their  specialties.  If  one  has  not  the 
habit  already,  and  will  try  to  form  it,  he  wiU  soon 
find  it  a  quite  subconscious  manner,  yielding  a 
good  return. 

"Front  Matter'' 

The  reader  who  ignores  Prefaces  and  Introduc- 
tions is  sometimes  indubitably  just  as  weU  off, 


How  to  Read  173 

letting  the  book  speak  for  itself,  tell  its  own  story; 
and  yet  certainly  there  will  be  other  times  when  he 
will  miss  Something  Worth  While,  perhaps  the 
vital  clue  to  the  book.  If  the  Preface  is  shallow, 
vain  and  pretentious,  it  conveys  warning.  If  it  is 
sincere,  appropriate  and  luminiferous,  it  estab- 
lishes the  personal  relationship  without  which 
nothing  human  is  completely  good. 

And  now,  the  Text.  I  have  known  hypercritical 
readers  who  would  let  the  presence  of  a  comma 
where  none  should  be,  or  its  absence  where  needed, 
derail  their  attention  and  wreck  a  noble  train  of 
thought.  And  I  have  known  others,  not  critical 
enough  for  their  own  well-being,  too  easily  swayed, 
too  readily  yielding  their  faith,  neglecting  to  re- 
quire of  the  author  proof  of  his  right  to  their  con- 
fidence. Neither  of  these  ways  is  good  reading. 
Be  ye  not  captious ;  neither  let  your  judgment  be 
too  easily  surrendered. 

The  Book  in  Which  All  Books  Are 

A  precept  that  many  utter  but  few  convert 
into  conduct  is.  Search  the  scriptures  of  the  dic- 
tionary.    The  author  works  with  words,  and  pre- 


174  Books  and  Folks 

sumably  has  studied  them.  He  ought  to  know 
them  better  than  the  reader  knows  them,  for  they 
are  the  tools  of  his  trade.  His  laiowledge  is  the 
reader's  opportunity  to  acquire  knowledge;  and 
knowledge  of  one's  own  language  is  good  to  have. 
It  will  help  in  business,  and  in  social  life.  It  will 
even  raise  family  life  to  a  higher  plane ;  intelligent 
talk  is  part  of  good  living.  We  are  judged  by 
the  letters  we  write.  Any  random  expression, 
vocal  or  written,  may  affect  a  terrestrial  destiny. 
A  scant  vocabulary  does  well  enough  for  common- 
place use.  A  quite  Hmited  vocabulary  of  good 
plain  English  words  rightly  used  will  carry  one 
far.  And. a  polysyllabic  vocabulary  may  betray 
affectation.  But  these  facts  ought  not  to  deprive 
anyone  of  the  richness,  the  added  power,  of  a 
fuller  expression  than  most  of  us  have  mastered 
And  there  is  no  easy  way  to  acquire  richness, 
elasticity  and  adequacy  of  speech;  the  only  way 
is  the  way  of  study. 

Reading  ought  not  to  be  interrupted  by  constant 
reference  to  the  lexicon.  It  is  not  even  necessary 
to  make  notes  as  the  reading  progresses.  Suppose 
one  were,  now  and  then,  to  give  ten  or  fifteen 


How  to  Read  175 

minutes,  or  even  half  a  precious  hour,  to  looking 
through  a  book  he  has  admired,  selecting  the  less 
ordinary  words  as  the  eye  lights  upon  them,  and 
looking  them  up.  If  one  is  willing  to  put  into  the 
exercise  so  much  effort,  he  will  find  the  interest  on 
his  investment  increased  if  he  first  attempts  a  defi- 
nition of  his  own,  then  compares  it  with  the  pro- 
fessional one.  The  exercise  soon  becomes  a 
joyous  game.  It  may  even  lead  to  an  interest  in 
the  dictionary  itself  as  a  book;  the  dictionary  is 
an  absorbingly  interesting  book.  Perhaps  it  would 
be  a  gain  for  us  if  we  were  to  regard  it  with  less  of 
remote  reverence  and  more  of  human  intimacy; 
for  it  is  not  inspired,  it  is  made  by  men,  it  is  fal- 
lible and  subject  to  improvement. 

Study  is  Pleasant,  Not  Painful 

The  reader  may  even  be  drawn  into  a  serious, 
and  highly  rewarding,  study  of  Comparative  Lexi- 
cography. How  does  Webster  define  a  word ;  how 
the  Century,  the  Standard  and  others  ?  The 
dictionary  carries  more  than  definitions ;  it  reports 
derivations,  and  through  Etymology  the  language 
will  reveal  new  wonders,  encouraging  respect  for 


17^  Books  and  Folks 

its  history,  and  revealing  in  the  difficulties  of 
spelling  a  record  of  value.  You  will  be  able  to 
comment  more  intelligibly  on  Simplified  Spelling, 
and  on  the  use  of  such  a  form  as  "alright,"  which 
children  are  permitted  to  use,  nowadays,  at  school. 
The  mind  is  an  engine;  its  power  is  transmitted 
through  speech.  As  one  grows  in  the  knowledge 
of  words  he  gains  in  power. 

As  of  the  dictionary,  so  of  the  cyclopaedia.  Let 
the  statements  made  in  books  be  tested.  A  re- 
cent novel  records  the  awakening  of  a  healthy  and 
protective  suspicion  in  a  boy's  mind  when  he 
learned  that  the  description  of  the  Lost  Continent 
Atlantis,  to  which  he  had  given  faith,  was  roman- 
tic speculation,  not  a  record  of  science.  Historical 
novels  are  good  when  it  is  possible  to  say,  so 
much  of  this  is  true  history;  so  much  is  mere 
color.  Let  the  Professor  of  Literature  say  to 
his  class:  "Do  you  fear  the  accusation  of  high- 
browism?  Where  is  your  courage?  Be  independ- 
ent; but  be  sure  of  your  ground.  Have  courage; 
but  do  not  mistake  for  it  the  rashness  of  igno- 
rance. Read  all  around  your  reading :  that's  the 
idea!" 


How  to  Read  177 

The  Professor  of  Literature  Says: 

When  you  come  upon  a  Big  Book,  do  not  begrudge 
the  time  it  takes  to  re-read,  and  re-re-read  it.  Each 
time  you  take  it  up,  something  new  will  appear,  as  in  a 
wide  landscape  new  detail  offers  through  repeated 
viewings.  Browse  in  it.  Browsing  in  any  book  at 
hand  is  not  good  for  the  mind,  though  entirely  irrepre- 
hensible  as  a  pastime.  Browsing  in  one  of  the  world's 
great  books  after  you  have  once  read  it  through  in 
straightforward  fashion  is  really  good,  because  it 
brings  out  ever  new  strokes  in  the  picture. 

The  habit  of  making  marginal  notes  is  good  or  bad, 
as  you  make  it  so.  If  they  are  the  mere  thoughtless 
scrawlings  that  librarians  justly  detest,  they  are  bad. 
But  imagine  the  loss  to  later  readers  if  Mr.  Brander 
Matthews,  let  us  say,  reading  a  library  volume  of  one 
of  those  authors  whom  he  criticizes  with  so  much  of 
enlightenment,  were  to  be  restrained  by  a  library  rule 
from  jotting  his  comments  in  the  margin  here  and 
there!  Perhaps  Professor  Matthews  hasn't  the  habit 
of  marginal  annotation;  but  most  scholars  indulge 
themselves  in  it. 

Abominable  as  are  the  scrawlings  with  which 
library  books  are  defaced  by  the  witless,  these  volun- 
teer critics  are  moved  by  an  instinct  in  itself  not 
wholly  uncommendable.  It  needs  some  restraint, 
and  wise  direction.  Writing  in  one's  own  books  is 
another  matter.  It  is  interesting,  and  may  be  quite 
profitable,  on  a  second  reading  to  compare  your 
more  matured  judgment  with  your  First  Impression, 


17S  Books  and  Folks 

recorded  In  the  white  border  of  the  page.  I  have 
bought  second-hand  books  for  the  personality  of  their 
pencilled  notes  moie  than  for  the  printed  text.  A 
most  "appealing"  book  is  the  facsimile  of  Edith 
Ca veil's  marked  copy  of  The  Imitation  of  Christ.  The 
passages  underscored  by  that  brave  woman  mean 
something  more  to  us  when  we  imagine  the  comfort 
they  were  to  her  in  the  dark  hour  of  her  trial. 

The  Reader's  Challenge 

Another  habit  that  belongs  to  those  who  read 
best,  if  not  most,  is  that  of  analyzing.  The  soul 
of  Keats  cried  out  against  the  placing  of  "the  awful 
rainbow  once  in  heaven"  in  "the  dull  catalogue  of 
common  things."  The  child  who  wants  to  see  the 
wheels  go  round  is  dismayed  when  he  beholds  the 
wonderful  toy  disabled;  he  has  paid  too  dear  for 
the  satisfaction  of  his  curiosity.  Loss  of  faith  is  a 
high  price  too  often  given  for  the  exercise  of  reason 
— by  persons  whose  minds  are  not  highly  endowed 
with  the  noblest  attribute  of  Man.  If  one  is  so 
constituted  that  the  highest  pleasure  he  can  get 
out  of  books  is  the  sentimental  one,  he  should  in- 
sist on  his  right  to  that  pleasure,  and  let  no  advo- 
cate of  Serious  Reading  bully  him  out  of  it.  It's 
his,  inalienably,  and  only  a  Puritan  tyrant  would 


How  to  Read  i79 

begrudge  it.  But  there  is  a  pleasure,  of  a 
higher  order,  to  be  got  from  books.  It  is  the 
exercise  of  independent  judgment.  It  can  be 
cultivated,  if  there  is  present  as  nucleus  just 
the  germ  of  intellectual  curiosity.  So  far  from 
being  a  drudgery,  making  one  weary  of  books,  it 
brings  an  ever  increasing  pleasure,  and  a  growth 
in  power. 

Some  books  stimulate  to  qualitative  analysis. 
If  a  book  is  badly  written,  but  sound  of  substance, 
it  is  worth  while  to  invest  time  on  it,  just  to  see 
where  opportunities  have  been  lost,  and  to  arouse 
the  mental  faculties  to  suggestion  of  what  should 
have  been  said  here,  and  there.  Such  a  book  brings 
into  activity  not  the  critical  faculty,  but  whatever 
power  the  reader  has  of  imagination  and  creation. 
Other  books  invite  to  quantitative  analysis.  Such 
a  book  is  Mr.  Wells's  imposing  Outline  oj  History. 
It  is  a  dull  reader  who  c^n  travel  through  its  pages 
and  fail  to  notice  a  dozen,  a  score,  a  hundred  signi- 
ficant comparative  apportionments  of  space.  To 
Kipling's  "Stalky"  stories  more  lines  are  given 
than  to  many  an  event  which  the  more  formal  his- 
torians make  the  subject  of  long  disquisitions.    It 


i8o  Books  and  Folks 

is  a  dull  reader  indeed  who  does  not  pause  to  work 
out  an  explanation. 

The  Professor  Concludes' 

Above  all,  be  a  free  man  or  woman  in  your  read- 
ing !  Suppose  you  want  to  read  the  last  chapter  first. 
Shall  you  be  disturbed  because  some  scholarly  friend 
deplores  your  weakness?  I  beg  you — no!  If  in 
friendship  you  desire  to  offer  a  defence,  let  it  be  this: 
that  when  you  have  read  the  last  words  of  a  book  you 
know  whither  it  is  to  carry  you,  and  can  so  much  the 
more  enjoy  the  journey  and  appreciate  its  progress. 
If  your  friend  is  reasonable,  he  will  smile  and  bid  you 
go  your  way  in  peace.  If  he  still  expostulates,  he  is 
not  reasonable,  and  you  can  dismiss  him  with  your 
blessing. 

What  you  get  from  your  reading  will  always  be  in 
direct  proportion  to  what  you  put  into  it. 

Class  is  dismissed. 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


CHILDREN  AND  BOOKS 
IN  THE  HOME 


i8i 


CHAPTER  XII 

CHILDREN  AND  BOOKS  IN  THE  HOME 

A  publisher's  advertisement  asserts  that  more 
than  25,000  copies  of  Little  Women  were  sold 
in  1920.  Another  advertisement  declares  that 
more  than  2,500,000  copies  of  Bringing  Up  Father 
had  been  marketed.  A  third  notice  reported  total 
sales  of  22,000,000  copies  of  the  Rev.  Charles  M. 
Sheldon's  In  His  Steps.  These  are  highly  interest- 
ing comparative  statistics,  but  present  interest 
centers  upon  the  first  item. 

When  25,000  persons  buy  a  book  that  was  first 
published  fifty  years  ago,  that  book's  possession  of 
vital  quality  is  demonstrated  beyond  question. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  just  how  the  1920 
sales  of  Miss  Alcott's  Classic  compare  with  those 
of  the  children's  books  that  were  new  in  that  year. 
How  many  of  the  "juveniles"  published  in  1920 
will  sell  25,000  in  1970? 

183 


1 84  Books  and  Folks 

What  is  the  demand,  nowadays,  for  the  Pansy 
Books,  and  Elsie  Dinsmore  ?  How  does  it  compare 
with  the  demand  for  the  boys'  books  of  twenty- 
five  years  ago:  Oliver  Optic,  say?  And  how  does 
Little  Women  compare,  in  respect  of  commercial 
value  now,  with  Treasure  Island  ?  Can  it  be  that 
those  25,000  copies  of  Miss  Alcott's  story  were 
bought  by  middle-aged  folks  for  their  own  pleas- 
ure; or  bought  by  them  to  be  given  to  youngsters 
whose  modernism  startles  the  elders  into  an  at- 
tempt to  restore  old  standards?  Or  is  Little 
Women  truly  "permanent"?  Do  the  boys  and 
girls  of  Now  like  it  as  much  as  it  was  liked  by  the 
boys  and  girls  of  Then  ? 

Forbidden  Fruit 

Every  parent,  even  the  illiterate  parent,  is  con- 
cerned at  times  about  what  Jack  and  Jill  are  read- 
ing. Probably  this  concern  is  not  so  keen  or  so 
constant  as  the  one,  to  which  it  is  related,  about 
the  children's  human  companionships;  but  it  ought 
to  be.  Children  are  influenced  as  much  by  what 
they  read  as  by  what  they  hear  and  see ;  some  chil- 
dren are  swayed  even  more  by  Uterary  than  by 


Children  and  Books  in  the  Home   185 

personal  associations.  These  latter  are  the  ones 
who,  most  needing  guidance  and  supervision,  are 
least  susceptible  to  monitorial  influence.  The 
giving  of  helpful  guidance  is  a  problem  for  every 
father  and  mother  to  study. 

Forbidden  fruit  is  sweetest.  The  "No  trespass- 
ing" sign  is  an  invitation;  "Thou  shalt  not,"  a 
challenge.  The  locked  section  in  the  home  book- 
case stands  for  bad  domestic  policy.  Is  it  sensible 
to  emphasize  what  you  want  to  conceal?  It 
may  do  in  a  Poe  story,  or  in  the  old  game  of  select- 
ing the  biggest  name  on  the  map  as  the  one  to  bid 
your  opponent  search  for;  but  it  is  poor  strategy 
in  this  battle  of  wits  with  the  young  reader.  Be- 
sides, it  isn't  polite,  courteous  or  considerate,  as 
parental  conduct  ought  to  be.  But  this  phase  of 
the  subject  is  beyond  the  Kmit  of  this  chapter's 
intention. 

I  remember  being  caught  by  a  school  principal 
reading  Nick  Carter,  and  sternly  reprimanded. 
The  reprimand  came  just  at  the  moment  when  its 
harmful  potentialities  were  greatest:  the  moment 
when  the  zest  of  reading  had  begun  to  pall.  If 
Nick  Carter  could  cause  so  much  excitement,  he 


i86  Books  and  Folks 

must  be  more  important  than  he  had  seemed! 
That  schoolmaster  was  betrayed  by  an  excess  of 
zeal  into  frustration  of  his  own  excellent  purpose. 
A  discreet  word  or  two,  granting  that  something 
had  to  be  said,  would  have  put  Nick  into  his  proper 
place.  The  Nick  Carter  type  of  story  is  good  for 
grown  men,  about  once  a  year,  when  the  routine 
of  work  has  staled  them.  They  have  some  sense 
of  value  and  proportion,  so  that  they  can  put 
the  great  detective  where  he  belongs  in  the  Scheme 
of  Things.  Some  parents  think  the  stories  are 
vicious,  because  they  are  cheap.  Probably  they 
are  in  reality  sounder  than  some  of  the  Mystery 
Stories  bound  up  as  handsomely  as  the  Serious 
Books  that  pass  muster  without  inspection. 

Fathers  and  Sons 

It  is  not  good  for  the  growing  boy  to  live, 
mentally,  on  a  diet  of  sensation.  He  has  an  un- 
limited appetite  for  it,  and  that  appetite  ought 
to  be  indulged  to  a  reasonable  extent.  The  dif- 
ficulty is  in  getting  at  a  definition  of  "reason- 
able." Our  Model  Professor  of  Literature  says  on 
this  topic : 


Children  and  Books  in  the  Home    187 

Don't  be  arbitrary  with  the  boy.  If  you  tell  him 
that  other  things,  better  for  him,  are  just  as  interest- 
ing, put  your  assertion  to  the  proof  by  putting  those 
other  things  in  his  way.  If  you  try  to  force  them  on 
him,  you  are  likely  to  experience  a  distressing  failure, 
for  these  two  potent  reasons :  that  the  boy  will  not  be 
in  the  right  mood  to  get  the  good  out  of  reading,  and 
that  you  can't  force  a  boy  to  do  anything,  anyway. 
You  may  compel  him  to  go  through  the  motions ;  but 
in  effect  you  will  be  the  doer,  and  he  will  be  only  the 
obstinate  instrument  of  your  will. 

You  can't  drive  a  boy,  but  you  can  lead  him — if 
you  don't  let  him  know  you're  trying  to  do  it.  Fathers 
don't,  as  a  rule,  get  close  to  their  sons.  As  the  sons 
get  older,  Dad  draws  further  away  from  them.  He 
yearns  in  secret,  perhaps,  for  their  intimate  compan- 
ionship. But  he  has  an  unstated  fear  of  them:  he 
has  passed  the  peak,  they  are  on  the  up-grade.  His 
adventures  are  over;  theirs  are  beginning.  Life  has 
been  his;  life  is  theirs.  His  powers  may  be  at  their 
best,  but  he  has  stopped  growing;  the  next,  inevi- 
table, stage  for  him  is  that  of  decline.  Fathers  do 
not  feel  this,  consciously;  perhaps  they  feel  it  the 
more  keenly  because  of  its  vagueness  and  submerg- 
ence in  the  suppressed,  inarticulate  territory  of 
consciousness. 

Fathers  do  not  talk  things  over  with  their  growing 
sons  as  fully  and  as  frankly  as  they  could,  should  and 
wish  they  might.  There  is  a  masculine  reticence 
that  stands  in  the  way.    And  I  wonder  if  by  the  time 


1 88  Books  and  Folks 

a  man  passes  forty  there  isn't  a  deadening  conscious- 
ness, quite  likely  an  exaggerated  one,  of  unfitness? 
The  man  is  aware  of  secret  scars ;  the  youngster  is  so 
crystalline-sincere,  so  frank,  so  unsuspicious — and  at 
the  same  time  so  sensitive,  that  a  man  may  well 
dread  meeting  him  on  a  footing  of  complete  candor. 
And  I  do  not  mean  a  man  with  a  Lurid  Past,  but  the 
ordinary,  average  Paterfamilias.  Nor  do  I  mean  that 
there  is  any  visible,  tangible  barrier;  only  that  per- 
haps the  two  chemistries  of  personality  are  too  much 
alike  to  mingle  freely,  and  there  is  an  imperceptible 
but  operative  repulsion. 


If,  for  whatever  reason,  a  man  is  not  as  close  to 
his  son  as  he  wishes  he  were,  he  could  not  find  a 
better  way  to  set  about  improving  the  relation 
than  by  talking  to  the  boy  about  his  reading.  He 
will  have  to  read  some  of  the  boy's  books  himself, 
so  as  to  be  sure  of  his  ground ;  and  that  will  lighten 
the  burden  of  his  years,  quicken  his  laggard  pulse  and 
whet  his  mind.  Itwill  help  the  boy,  too.  The  young- 
ster will  try  to  keep  up  with  his  father,  and  the  en- 
deavor to  gain  parental  approbation  will  quicken 
the  juvenile  perception  of  what  is  really  worth 
while.  The  boy  who  is  expected  to  talk  about 
his  books,  and  is  made  to  feel  that  his  talk  is  being 


Children  and  Books  in  the  Home    189 

received  with  some  respect,  will  read  books  that 
furnish  better  material  for  discussion. 

The  Professor  Says,  Furthermore: 

You  regulate  your  children's  physical  diet.  You 
know  they  could  not  live  on  pie  and  pudding,  and  be 
healthy.  But  you  know  also  that  pie  or  pudding  now 
and  then  is  positively  good  for  them.  You  do  not 
refuse  to  allow  pie  or  pudding  to  appear  on  your  table, 
but  you  do  insist  that  they  shall  be  served  only  at 
proper  times.  You  give  the  youngsters  plain,  sub- 
stantial breakfasts  and  lunches,  and  some  sweets  at 
dinner.  You  build  their  regimen  about  the  simple, 
nourishing  foods.  You  give  them  a  variety  of  foods. 
You  try  to  make  their  meals  pleasant.  You  teach 
them  to  eat  slowly.  Even  the  more  careless  of  parents 
pay  some  heed  to  these  matters.  Can  less  be  done 
for  the  child's  mind  than  is  done  for  his  body? 

Your  boy,  your  girl,  ought  to  have  bread-and-butter 
reading,  and  cake-and-pudding  reading.  The  boy 
craves  adventure;  the  girl,  romance.  These  are 
natural,  healthy  appetites  and  suppression  of  them 
is  injurious — more  injurious,  I  would  almost  say, 
than  over-indulgence.  A  too  studious  youngster — 
for  some  such  there  are — ought  to  be  judiciously  en- 
couraged to  read  stories,  just  as  the  youngster  who  if 
left  to  himself  would  read  nothing  but  stories  ought 
to  be  encouraged  to  undertake  some  reading  of  a 
more  educative  nature. 


iQo  Books  and  Folks 

Do  boys  and  girls  read  Robinson  Crusoe  nowa- 
days? New  editions  are  still  being  made,  but 
you  cannot  be  quite  sure  whether  the  edition  will 
be  bought  for  young  folks  or  their  elders.  Robin- 
son Crusoe,  often  thought  of  as  a  juvenile,  is  in  its 
ungarbled  text  decidedly  a  grown-up  book.  The 
mingling  of  the  elements  is  significant.  As  a 
Fable  for  the  Young,  the  "appeal"  is  assured.  As 
a  book  of  experience  and  philosophy,  it  carries  a 
guarantee  of  edification.  The  studious  youngster 
may  be  beguiled  by  it  into  an  appreciation  of  the 
pleasures  of  romance ;  the  romantic  youngster  may 
be  stimulated  by  the  story  to  an  appreciation  of 
the  good  things  other  than  narrative  that  lie 
between  the  covers  of  the  book. 

Where  there  are  children  there  must  be  a 
home;  and  where  there  is  a  home  with  chil- 
dren in  it  there  ought  to  be  a  library,  and 
the  children  ought  to  have  a  special  section  in 
it.  Instead  of  groaning  because  good  reading  is 
imder  the  Menace  of  the  Movies,  why  not 
adopt  a  constructively  aggressive  attitude,  and 
oppose  the  influence  of  sensational  movies  with 
good  books? 


Children  and  Books  in  the  Home   191 

Bltcebeard  and  Long  John  Silver 

The  bulk  of  children's  reading  ought  to  be  made 
up  of  stories.  The  storytelling  instinct  is  as  old 
as  the  race.  The  storyteller  is  a  person  of  adven- 
turous mind.  He  would  rather  be  wicked  than 
dull.  Perhaps  it  is  deplorable,  but  it  certainly  is 
true,  that  most  of  us  respond  more  heartily  to  a 
story  of  clever  wickedness  than  to  one  of  highly 
respectable  dulness:  it  being  understood  that  the 
word  "wickedness"  is  not  stretched  to  the  limit 
of  its  definition.  The  Natural  Man  is  encased, 
hidden  away,  in  layers  of  protective  convention 
and  a  morality  rooted  in  fear.  And  so  the  world, 
except  for  a  few  sophisticated  free  souls,  has  settled 
upon  its  formula  of  villainy  foiled  by  virtue,  and 
the  Happy  Ending. 

Children  start  with  clean  minds.  Until  their 
minds  are  soiled  by  contact  with  the  world,  they 
will  play  the  game  of  make-believe  with  the  most 
agile-minded  spinner  of  yarns.  Sensitive,  too 
imaginative  children  need  special,  expert  treat- 
ment; but  healthy,  normal  youngsters  can  stand 
an  amazing  amount  of  horrors,  and  come  through 
quite  unscathed.     The  girl's  life  is  not  going  to  be 


192  Books  and  Folks 

darkened  by  tragedy  because  she  shudders  ecstati- 
cally over  Bluebeard's  collection,  and  the  boy  is 
not  going  to  be  an  outlaw  at  thirty  because  he  cut 
notches  in  a  dummy  gun  at  thirteen.  The  thing 
is  to  see  that  he  doesn't  overdo  it,  and  that  he 
outgrows  it  at  the  proper  stage  of  his  development. 
Parental  concern  is  all  too  likely  to  be  worked  out 
in  harmful  repression  when  reasonable  indulgence 
is  in  order,  and  in  neglect  when  the  time  for  judi- 
cious interference  arrives.  There  is  no  stupidity 
like  the  stupidity  of  parents,  fearful  when  they 
should  be  bold,  and  fearless  when  they  ought  to 
be  cautious. 

In  juvenile  books  as  in  grown-up  books,  the 
thing  to  look  for  is  sincerity.  Dramatic  situations 
may  be  presented  unsensationally.  Common- 
place, innocent  incidents  may  be  reported  with 
exaggerated  emphasis  and  sensational  distortions. 
No  person  who  sincerely  desires  to  make  the 
correct  distinction  can  fail  of  satisfactory 
accuracy.  Most  parents  debar  themselves  from 
this  highly  useful  service  from  sheer  lack  of  self- 
confidence.  They  are  not  critics!  But  it  is  not 
necessary  to  be  a  professional  Book  Reviewer  to 


Children  and  Books  in  the  Home  i93 

be  a  competent  critic.  The  professional  can  only- 
state  principles,  or  pass  judgment  on  one  book  or 
another  by  applying  those  principles  to  it.  His 
knowledge  of  book  construction  is  not  half  so 
valuable,  with  regard  to  the  parent's  problem,  as 
the  parent's  knowledge  of  the  child's  individual 
nature!  I  would  rather  help  a  parent  gain  the 
courage  of  his  own  convictions  than  assist  him  in 
a  default  by  passing  judgment  on  his  specific 
and  immediate  problems.  I  would  rather  help 
him  help  himself  by  appealing  to  his  self-reliance 
than  assume  his  duty  and  serve  in  his  place  by, 
say,  getting  up  for  him  a  list  of  books  that  he  ought 
to  buy  for  his  growing  family.  Why  do  people 
rob  themselves  of  the  pleasure  and  high  privilege 
that  should  be  theirs — calling  it  Duty  and,  of 
course,  shrinking  from  it? 

Good  Books,  Well  Made 

One  definite  service  that  the  bewildered  parent 
can  render  is  that  of  supplying  the  youngsters  with 
the  better-made  books.  Even  a  Classic,  for  all 
its  intrinsic  worth,  is  the  better  for  a  decent  dress. 
I    would     not     say    that     a    poor    book    well 

13 


194  Books  and  Folks 

printed  and  handsomely  bound  is  better  than  a 
good  book  slovenly  typed  on  cheap  paper,  or  run 
off  from  old  battered  plates,  and  put  up  in  a  faded 
warpy  binding;  still,  the  idea  is  tempting.  But 
the  point  is,  that  a  good  book  deserves  a  good 
physical  appearance.  The  youngster  who  handles 
well-made  books  will  treat  them  with  a  respect 
that  will  extend  to  the  contents.  He  will  come  to 
them  with  clean  hands.  He  will  develop  the  very 
admirable  niceties  of  a  true  Lover  of  Books,  Can 
you  admire  the  person  who  is  ashamed  to  be 
(reasonably)  sentimental  about  his  reading? 
Books  engage  us  intimately.  They  warm  our 
leisure  time  to  ripeness.  It  is  better  to  be  mellow 
about  them  than  to  be  acid.  Let  your  boy  or 
your  girl  learn  early  to  appreciate  the  finer  possi- 
bilities of  bookmaking;  so  doing  you  will  help 
them  acquire  a  treasure,  and  a  source  of  pleasure, 
that  the  world  cannot  rob  them  of. 

The  Professor  Again 

Immeasurable  [says  our  Model  Professor],  are  the 
forces,  of  mind  and  body,  of  that  boy  or  girl  you  are 
"bringing  up."  You  cannot  control  them;  you  are 
fortunate  if  you  can  direct  them.     Your  privileges 


Children  and  Books  in  the  Home    195 

and  your  responsibilites  are  great.  Your  best-inten- 
tioned  efforts  at  guidance  may  divert  that  young  life 
from  the  way  its  natural  organization  prescribes. 
Some  chance  word  or  act  of  yours  may  mould  a 
destiny.  You  yearn  for  wisdom.  Your  own  frailties 
dismay  you.  You  want  to  "do  the  right  thing,"  but 
how  can  you  tell  what  it  is?  Two  errors  you  must 
avoid:  too-muchness  and  too-littleness.  You  cannot 
stand  aside  and  "let  things  work  out  their  own  way." 
You  cannot  control  them  completely;  your  child's  life 
is  a  life  apart,  even  from  the  parent's.  Perhaps  the 
brute  beasts  have  the  best  of  it,  who  nurse  and  train 
their  young — and  then  go  separate  ways.  Do  horses 
and  dogs  recognize  their  own  offspring,  matured? 
The  human  parent  clings  to  the  old  relation.  Even 
an  aged  human  father  or  mother,  dependent  on  a 
son  for  support,  completely  reversing  the  original 
situation,  will  assert  the  original  authority.  Shall 
our  children  cease  to  be  our  children,  because  our 
hairs  are  gray  and  our  limbs  infirm  ? 

One  safeguard  against  so  undesirable  an  eventu- 
ation  may  be  effected  by  parents  at  the  start ;  and 
the  way  to  it  is  through  close  contact  with  our  sons 
and  daughters,  through  books,  while  the  little  ones 
are  still  in  the  plastic  state.  What  is  it  that  sepa- 
rates parents  and  children  but  the  gradually  in- 
creasing   divergence   of   interests?    We    parents 


196  Books  and  Folks 

cannot  hope  to  hold  them  to  our  ideas  of  politics 
or  religion;  they  have  other  friends  than  ours; 
their  business  and  social  relations  are  apart  from 
ours.  But  if  we  and  they  have  read  together,  and 
"talked  book"  together,  we  have  established  a 
common  interest  little  likely  to  fade  as  the  years 
go  by,  a  pleasant  meeting  place  is  always  available, 
our  minds  and  theirs  can  dwell  together  in  the 
peaceful,  pleasant  ways  of  Bookland. 

Kind  Sir  and  Madam,  it  will  pay  you,  richly,  to 
keep  in  touch  with  the  young  folks  through  their 
reading ! 


BOOKS  AND  FOLKS 


BOOKS  AND  AMERICAN 
FOLKS 


197 


CHAPTER  XIII 

BOOKS  AND  AMERICAN   FOLKS 

President  Wilson,  so  a  newspaper  story  told 
the  world,  remarked  of  a  visitor  who  wearied  him 
in  an  interview,  ' '  That  man  is  made  on  the  bunga- 
low plan — ^he  has  no  upper  story."  The  persons 
who  talk  about  American  folks  and  American 
books  as  though  they  were  quite  different  from 
other  nations  and  their  literatures  have  dusty 
mental  attics.  These  persons  almost  invariably 
rest  their  differentiation  upon  a  base  of  granite- 
hard  conviction  that  the  difference  is  a  measure  of 
American  inferiority.  Their  ideas  are  valueless 
but  extremely  irritating;  solemn  reiteration  gives 
them  an  undeserved  influence.  Americans  are 
not  inferior,  either  in  power  of  expression  or  in 
ability  to  appreciate  good  expression. 

We  do  not  take  a  man  at  his  own  valuation 
nearly  so  much  as  we  are  said  to ;  we  are  not  half 

199 


20O  Books  and  Folks 

so  blind  to  the  color  of  Quality  as  our  magisterial 
detractors  sometimes  assert;  not  half  so  easily 
gulled  by  the  Prestidigitator  in  Letters.  We  are 
not,  nationally,  more  priggish  or  free-and-easy, 
more  given  to  cant  or  to  sentimentality,  more 
highbrow  or  roughneck,  than  other  people 
are — nationally.  We  have  our  prigs  and  hypo- 
crites,our  insincere  or  shallow  minds,  our  sensualists, 
opportunists  and  deliberate  deceivers;  and  we 
have  our  liberals  in  thought  and  conduct,  our  ideal- 
ists, our  artists  and  appreciators  of  art — just  as 
France  or  China,  England,  or  Germany  has  them 
all. 

America,  the  World's  Frontier 

Between  the  Atlantic  Portland  and  its  Pacific 
namesake,  between  the  Dominion  and  the  Gulf, 
there  are  a  hundred-plus  millions  of  us ;  and  some 
millions  of  us  are  of  British  stem,  some  other  mil- 
lions of  Continental  antecedents,  and  millions  more 
have  sprung  from  Near  Eastern,  Far  Eastern,  or 
African  roots.  We  are  a  Federation  of  States,  a 
merger  of  nationalities;  a  congeries,  almost, 
of  nations.     They  speak  of  the  Passing  of  the 


Books  and  American  Folks    201 

Frontier;  but  America  is  all  frontier.  America  is 
everirthing  on  the  big  scale.  We  are  ten  thousand 
Book  Markets. 

A  recent  writer  on  Immigration  wonders  at  our 
merchants'  eagerness  after  the  trade  of  Poland, 
when  we  have  a  market  of — how  many? — millions 
of  Poles  in  our  own  land ;  or  that  of  Greece,  when 
we  rival  Greece  herself  in  Greek  population.  Per- 
haps Commerce  has  more  sense  than  its  easy 
critics  give  it  credit  for ;  the  point  of  interest  to  us 
is  that  this  giant  of  a  nation  has  so  many 
elements  and  each  of  them  so  large  that  it  is  quite 
easy  to  mistake  any  of  them,  when  you  concen- 
trate attention  on  it,  for  the  Whole.  We  have 
enough  millions  of  people  struggling  up  out  of  the 
cramped  conditions  of  their  personal  past  and  their 
ancestral  inheritance — in  cultured  Europe! — to 
give,  by  their  crude  taste  in  reading,  a  quite  plau- 
sible impression  of  nationally  dominant  Eighth 
Grade  mental  development.  But  Mr.  Wells's 
Outline  of  History  sold  in  figures  that  rival  those 
of  even  Popular  Fiction.  Are  Harold  Bell  Wright's 
readers  more  truly  American  than  those  of  Mrs. 
Wharton?     (A  hearty  negation  is  expected.)    The 


202  Books  and  Folks 

really  typical  American,  so  one  friend  of  American 
Letters  believes,  can  find  use  for  both. 

Books  and  Neckties 

There's  a  good  story,  or  perhaps  it's  a  Fable,  in 
the  Publishers'  Weekly:  Mr.  Careful  is  in  a  book- 
shop, looking  for  "something  for  my  son." 

A  set  of  Dickens  at  eighteen-fif ty  ? 

"Oh,  my!  Why,  I  could  get  him  a  suit  of  clothes 
for  that!" 

"  Tom  Sawyer,  then !  How  much  is  it  ?  Two  and  a 
quarter  in  cloth;  three  dollars,  in  leather." 

"No Tom  Sawyer  would  have  been  all  right, 

but  I'll  never  pay  that  for  a  book!  I — I'll  get  him 
something  to  wear." 

Mr.  Careful  is  about  to  depart,  but  the  bookseller, 
like  the  Ancient  Mariner,  "Holds  him  with  his  steely 
eye." 

* '  Just  a  minute !    Have  you  ever  read  Tom  Sawyer  ? '  * 

"Yes,  of  course." 

"How  long  ago?" 

"Oh,  twenty  years,  I  should  say." 

"And  do  you  still  remember  it?" 

"Yes,  indeed!     It  was  one  of  the " 

"All  right.  Now,  what  have  you  got  in  the  way 
of  wearing  apparel  that  has  lasted  you  for  twenty 
years?" 


Books  and  American  Folks    203 

Silence  a  moment;  then  the  bookseller,  having 
driven  his  argument  in,  proceeds  to  clinch  it : 

"Twenty  years  ago  you  paid  a  couple  of  dollars  for 
something  that  you  are  still  wearing;  something  that 
will  never  wear  out.  My  point  is  that  Tom  Sawyer  is 
value  received  at  two  and  a  quarter!" 

No ;  Mr.  Careful  did  not  buy  at  once !     He  went  out. 

After  a  few  minutes,  though,  he  came  back.  Beam- 
ing at  the  bookseller,  he  said,  "I'll  take  Tom  Sawyer! " 

"Good!" 

"Yes — I  went  across  the  street,  and  they  want  three 
dollars  and  a  half  for  a  tie!" 


Many  of  us  are  still  at  the  stage  of  intellectual 
development  where  the  durability-consideration  of 
books  does  not  exert  so  much  "pull"  as  a  dollar- 
for-doUar  comparison  with  other  merchandise. 
Many  of  us  would  honestly,  and  without  shame, 
prefer  to  spend  three  dollars  to  see  a  play  rather 
than  two  and  a  quarter  for  a  book.  Does  that 
brand  America  as  hopeless  for  culture?  Before 
you  answer,  consider  that  the  volumes  in  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  libraries  go  out  and  come 
back  and  go  out  again,  with  an  average  for  all  sorts, 
Fiction  to  Philosophy,  that  indicates  a  patronage 
which  not  even  a  Theater  Trust  could  afford  to 


204  Books  and  Folks 

scoff  at.  The  synchronous  bigness  of  so  many  things 
in  America  is  somewhat  confusing. 

We  Scoff— but  We  Yield 

Many,  perhaps  most  of  us  are  subject  to  literary 
hypnotism.  We  may  scoff  at  print,  but  when  we 
do  submit  ourselves  to  it,  we  yield  up  for  the  time 
being  our  own  personality,  and  accept  the  type  at 
face  value.  Even  the  Dictionary  deserves  less 
faith  and  credit  than  it  gets;  it  is  human,  fallible 
and  less  than  perfect.  We  refuse  to  regard  the 
thermometer  when  the  mercurial  elevation  indi- 
cates more  heat  or  cold  than  we  feel;  but  in 
resorting  to  the  Dictionary  we  discard  the  bag- 
gage of  Reason  and  go  laden  lightly  with 
Faith,  as  though  there  were  sacred  sanction 
and  superhuman  authority  in  this  work  of 
human  hands.  With  no  fell  purpose  to  under- 
mine this  bulwark  of  society,  it  may  be  said  that 
a  more  critical  attitude  by  patrons  of  the  Dic- 
tionary would  exert  a  wholesome  influence  upon 
the  lexicographer. 

We  are  apt  to  be  not  alert  but  numb  when  we 
read.     We  do  not  enough  challenge  what  we  read. 


Books  and  American  Folks    205 

We  do  not  navigate,  we  drift ;  we  spread  our  sails 
and  take  the  wind,  regardless  of  its  direction  and 
what  lies  ahead.  Pleasant  voyaging,  but  as  apt 
to  lead  to  the  reefs  and  shallows  as  to  a  proper 
destination ;  for  not  all  the  breezes  that  blow  across 
the  seas  of  literature  are  trustworthy.  Why  not 
let  the  Critical  Faculty  stand  at  the  helm?  The 
joy  of  exercise  and  work  surpasses  the  voluptuous 
pleasure  of  self -submission.  This  too  ready  com- 
plaisance is  perhaps  in  a  measure  typically  Amer- 
ican ;  at  least,  it  may  be  that  Americans  are  more 
given  to  it  than  other  folks.  And  this  again  may 
be  due  to  the  fact  that  our  Reading  Public  is  so 
large,  and  so  many  of  our  readers  go  blithely 
beyond  their  depth,  before  they  know  how  to 
swim.  We  Americans  do  really  have  the  Herd 
Habit  —  but  we  are  not  modelled  after  the 
Gadarene  herd  of  swine.  We  may  paw  the 
ground  and  bellow,  with  some  clashing  of  horns, 
but  we  don't  stampede  clear  off  the  range;  we 
stick  where  the  pasturage  is  fat,  and  are  loyal  to 
our  brand.  Can't  we  keep  these  comfortable  hab- 
its, and  at  the  same  time  indulge  in  a  keener 
self -consciousness  ? 


2o6  Books  and  Folks 

The  Danger  of  Priggishness 

More  characteristically  American  than  the  mat- 
ters that  have  been  mentioned  is  our  fondness  for 
Moral  Judgment.  Coupled  with  it  is  the  fear  of 
being  thought  Puritan  or  priggish.  We  are  not 
quite  sure  whether  the  naked  statue  is  a  work  of 
pure  art  or  a  bold  revel  in  mere  nakedness.  We 
too  often  refrain  from  expressing  our  true  belief 
about  an  essentially  unclean  book  lest  perchance 
in  more  pretentious  opinion  it  be  accepted  as  Art. 

Perhaps  it  is  simple  and  provincial  to  dwell  upon 
such  matters;  but  surely  we  can  form  an  opinion 
without  needing  to  dread  accusation  of  Sunday 
School  processes  of  the  intellect.  American  life  is 
clean;  we  like  work  and  its  rewards,  we  can  see  a 
muddy  pool  without  wanting  to  wade  in  it.  Amer- 
ican decency,  American  cleanliness,  are  not  the 
result  of  inertia  but  are  conscious,  ingrained  virtues 
of  higher  rank  in  any  sensible  scale  of  values  than 
the  affectations  of  a  highly  sophisticated  culture. 
The  gentleman  has  regard  for  his  clothes,  but  the 
clothes  don't  make  the  gentleman.  No,  sir!  We 
must  not  let  beauties  of  style  blind  us  to  defects 
of  substance.     I  have  a  healthy  respect  for  the 


Books  and  American  Folks    207 

coarsenesses  of  life,  and  a  contempt  for  the  "refine- 
ment," based  on  fear,  that  tries  to  gloss  them  over. 
Let  us  have  sincerity,  both  in  our  books  and  in  our 
estimates  of  them.  I  think,  if  it  is  an  American 
weakness  to  force  "morals"  into  every  judgment, 
it  is  a  still  more  characteristic  American  weakness 
to  permit  that  first  weakness,  and  our  conscious- 
ness of  it,  to  be  used  by  the  promulgators  of 
imsound  ideas. 

The  New  Age,  the  New  Men,  the  New  Books 

This  is  a  restless  Age,  They  say  the  older 
generation  failed,  made  a  mess  of  the  world  and  of 
life  in  it,  and  that  the  young  folks  who  fought  for 
peace  are  going  to  show  us  how  things  ought  to  be 
done.  When  the  youngsters  are  in  the  saddle, 
there  is  sure  to  be  some  hard  riding.  Hang  the 
gate — over  the  wall  you  go !  An  earlier  rider  may 
have  taken  his  tumble,  but  we  aren't  riding  for  a 
fall.  The  ditch  isn't  there  1  Poe  said  in  a  critical 
essay:  "The  great  opponent  to  Progress  is  Con- 
servatism" (which  sounds  elementary);  "in  other 
words,  the  great  adversary  of  Invention  is  Imita- 
tion" (which  gives  the  idea  a  finer  edge).    As  we 


2o8  Books  and  Folks 

launch  into  the  New  Age,  imitation  is  highly  un- 
popular, and  perhaps  invention  will  again  have 
its  turn. 

As  we  recover  from  the  reaction  that  followed 
our  period  of  exaltation  and  High  Purpose,  it  is 
inevitable  that  our  Literature  shall  reflect  our 
mood  and  shall  influence  our  conduct.  We  shall 
have  Great  Books — and  mediocre  books,  and  bad 
books.  Presumably,  more  of  our  people  today 
than  ever  before  are  interested  in  reading.  Young 
men  who  had  never  "bothered  with  books" 
found  a  way  into  Bookland  by  way  of  the  camp 
and  the  hospital.  Many  who  took  them  up  as 
mere  time-passers  must  have  been  awakened  from 
indifference  to  respect,  appreciation,  and  finally 
to  an  active  desire  for  a  greater  share  in  the 
Treasures  of  Print .  Persons  at  home  too  unlettered 
even  to  have  benefited  previously  by  newspapers 
and  magazines  have  been  moved  by  their  interest 
in  their  boys  Over  There  to  begin  reading;  and 
most  folks  who  read  at  all  want  to  read  more. 
Youth  is  writing  books,  and  Youth  will  read  the 
books  Youth  writes.  The  awakening  is  not  the 
less  refreshing  because  it  has  been  experienced  in 


Books  and  American  Folks    209 

this  old  world  many  times  before;  not  the  less  to 
be  enjoyed  because  so  many  thousands  of  genera- 
tions have  gone  the  way  through  complacent 
middle  age  to  doddering  senility.  The  old,  old 
discoveries  are  just  as  good  the  thousandth  time 
as  they  were  the  first.  So  long  as  they  glow  with 
the  Hght-from-within  of  new  personalities,  they 
are  refreshing  and  beneficial.  Welcome,  then,  the 
New  Age,  the  New  Men,  and  the  New  Books ! 

While  we  read  books,  the  horizon  cannot  cramp 
us.  While  we  keep  our  faces  toward  the  Sun  as 
the  advertising  men  tell  us,  our  shadows  will  fall 
behind  us.  If  we  look  to  our  authors  for  whole- 
some wit,  sincere  comment  on  Life ;  for  truth  and 
wisdom ;  for  honest  workmanship  and  high  ideals, 
and  let  them  know  that  these  are  the  high  stand- 
ards we  require,  then  these  are  the  good  things 
they  will  give  us.  If  we  are  slothful,  complacent, 
uncritical  in  our  reading,  we  shall  have  bad  books. 

In  our  own  hands  rests  the  fate  of  this  vexed 
but  lovable  queer  old  world  of  Books  and  Folks. 
14 


/k  Selection  from  the 
Catalogue  of 

C  F.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Coanplote  Catalogues  %mmX 
on  application 


The 

Art  of  Reading 

By 
Sir  Arthur  Quiller-Couch 

Editor,  novelist,  poet,  and  critic.  Sir 
Arthur  Quiller-Couch  is  one  of  the  most 
versatile  as  well  as  distinguished  living 
men  of  letters.  His  are  fresh  view- 
points, opening  up  ever  new  possibili- 
ties of  appreciation  for  the  reader  at 
the  same  time  that  they  educate  his 
judgment. 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


The 
Lure  of  the  Pen 

By 
Flora  Klickman 

An  almost  indispensable  volume  for 
those  who  aspire  to  write  for  publi- 
cation, written  by  an  editor  of  wide 
experience. 

**  For  real  solid  sensible  advice  in  the 
matter  of  writing  and  selling  stories 
Miss  Klickman  romps  in  an  easy 
winner." — Robert  Benchley  in  the 
New  York  World 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


Studies  in  Literature 


By 
Sir  Arthur  Quiller  Couch,  M.  A. 


Familiar  discourses  by  the  popular  novelist 
and  distinguished  professor  of  English  Liter- 
ature at  Cambridge — Among  the  subjects  bril- 
liantly discussed  are  "The  Commerce  of 
Thought, "  "  Ballads,  "  "  Some  Seventeenth 
Century  Poets,"  "The  Poetry  of  George 
Meredith,  "  "  Thomas  Hardy,  *'  and  "  Swin- 
burne. " 


G.  p.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


16  <fG  9' 


*11 


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827    5 


